The Wall Knows All
by Livyloozer
Summary: This is another "What if Fanfic" publication. This time, I'm putting my own spin on the episode "Arnold & Lila". Read onward to find out what I'm talking about! Rated for very mild language, suggested violence, and minor displays of affection.
1. For All to See

**A/N: Hi peoples! I'm back for more 'What if' fun! Before I get started, I want to thank my readership. Though I don't have a huge following, a following is a following no matter the size so thank you all for reading my stories and faving/following/commenting and stuff! I hope you have enjoyed what I have written so far! I also really appreciate you all for bearing with my 'turtle-slow' speed in terms of my story updates. Unfortunately, I'm going to need you to keep it up, especially for this story! I'm publishing this earlier than I anticipated I would and it just happened that way. This means that I don't have as many ideas as I would've liked.**

 **What I got planned for your reading enjoyment is going to be longer than my previous work. By the way, I know I said at the end of "After the Fight" that my next fic would be a one-shot. Don't worry. That's still in the works but I was finished with the first chapter of this fic already so here ya go! The 'What if' question I had in my mind while writing this was a little similar to other fics I've read on the subject but it's a little backwards.**

 **The question is simple: "What if the chalk writing and heart Helga made on the wall in 'Arnold and Lila' was changed somehow to suddenly be telling the truth (at least according to that time in the series)?"**

 **I know that I'm probably confusing some people…especially Stinky!**

 **Stinky: I don't get it! What's Livyloozer going on about?**

 **Me: Calm down, Stink-o. Sit back, relax, and wait. I'm about to tell ya.**

 **Stinky: But I still don't get it!**

 **Me: Oh can it, would ya?! I'm getting to it! Here, have some lemon pudding. Maybe that'll shut ya up!**

 ***Lemon pudding suddenly appears. Livyloozer gives it to Stinky.***

 **Stinky: Oh boy! Lemon pudding!**

 **Hahahahaha. By the way, I'm not sure if Stinky and the rest of the P.S. 118 gang that are not quite considered to be major characters but too much to be minor either (at least in my opinion) are going to be in this fic. The chances are that they probably are but I haven't decided if I'm including everyone or whatever. This whole thing is a huge work in progress.**

 **Oh yeah, I have to do this don't I? Ugg…ok fine….**

 **"** **HEY ARNOLD!" IS NOT MINE. I WROTE THE STORY BASED ON THE AWESOME SHOW BUT THE CHARACTERS ARE FROM THE SHOW AND ARE NOT MY CREATION. DON'T SUE ME. AIN'T NOBODY GOT TIME FOR THAT!**

 **IN THE VERY BEGINNING I DO USE SOME OF THE DIALOGUE BUT ONLY FOR THE PURPOSES OF THIS CHAPTER TO HELP GET THE BALL ROLLING. THAT'S NOT MINE EITHER SO CALM DOWN!**

 **UPDATE: BY THE WAY, I RECENTLY MADE COVER ART FOR THIS FIC AND THE ORIGINAL PICTURE CAME FROM THE SHOW SO I DON'T OWN THAT EITHER!**

The Wall Knows All

Chapter 1 – For All to See

"Call me mad but I dare. I dare!"

"With this chalk and no witnesses in sight, I will write the words upon this wall that would bear my soul, expressing all I hope, I dream, I pine and I pray was true forever and today" She then turned and began to write on the brick wall, saying out loud what she was writing

"Arnold…Loves…Helga…" She then finished with a heart around the words and an arrow that started at one end and finished at the other side of the heart, as if it was going right through it.

"There!" She declared as she was praising her handiwork but her dreamy thoughts were suddenly interrupted. She heard a few sets of footsteps grow higher in intensity, though she only heard one voice. That seemed odd to Helga at first but then she quickly registered the voice and realized that its occupant was none other than Rhonda Wellington Lloyd, the self-acclaimed fashion guru and the biggest gossip of P.S. 118's fourth grade. Helga would have rolled her eyes and made some snide remark in her head like, 'Oh of course it's only Rhonda's voice I hear. She doesn't let anyone else get a word in edgewise!', but she didn't have time to do any of that. Helga knew she had to get out of there and fast but first, she had to get rid of any sign of her greatest desire, which was written plainly on the wall behind her.

Turning back to the wall, Helga hurriedly wiped the writing off with her hand, but in her haste left the heart intact. Then she threw down the chalk and bolted down the alley before anyone could see her. She rushed out of there so quickly that she did not even notice the strange figure lurking in the shadows, who then suddenly came out of the darkness as soon as she ran off in the opposite direction.

With their plan in mind, this new person walked up to the chalk heart that used to have words written inside of it. Without much of a second thought, the strange figure picked up the discarded piece of chalk and very quickly but precisely wrote inside that heart what they knew was the truth. Once finished, they gave a quick nod in appreciation of her handiwork and then darted back into the shadows that they were originally hiding in when this whole situation began.

As the footsteps were getting closer and closer, the figure still had no regrets about what they had done. They stood firm in the belief that with those words being out in the open like that for all to see was all for own good.

 **A/N: Anybody have an idea who that stranger is going to be? You can tell me your guesses if you want to. I won't reveal the answer until probably the next chapter or two but you are still welcome to guess.**

 **So that's chapter one! Hope you enjoyed it and would to see more of this! Feel free to let me know what you think! Fair warning, the next chapter will take a little while mostly because of time and inspiration constraints! As always, bear with me please!**


	2. A Cry for Help

**A/N: Hiya! Well I am pleasantly surprised that I already have a readership for this fanfic. If you enjoyed the first chapter and are looking forward to reading more, I have good news and bad news for ya! The good news is that I am able to complete the second chapter pretty easily. (Exhibit A is said chapter below! Hahaha!) The bad news though is that I have no idea how long it'll take me to write the rest of the fanfiction, since I'm still not sure what direction to take it (i.e. the responses of certain characters, the ending, etc.). Again, I ask you to please bear with me!**

 **Anyways, in this chapter you'll get to find out what the stranger wrote in the chalk heart right after Helga erased the 'Arnold loves Helga' and ran away. Just like the original episode "Arnold & Lila", the same classmates are approaching the wall so you will also find out what their reaction to the writing is going to be. Now regarding the identity of the mystery writer? I know I said I was going to reveal that in this chapter but I have changed my mind. I broke up my original plan for the first chapter into two parts so the revealing is not going to take place until chapter 3 or it could be later. I haven't figured that out just yet.**

 **I know I should just get on with this but I have one more thing to add…**

 **"HEY ARNOLD!" AND ALL ITS COMPONENTS USED FOR THE PURPOSES OF THIS FANFIC (CHARACTERS, SETTING, DIALOGUE, ETC.) ARE NOT MY CREATION AND THEREFORE I HAVE NO LEGAL AFFILIATION WHATSOEVER. ONCE AGAIN, THEY WERE USED TO HELP WITH MY IDEA FOR THIS STORY.**

Chapter 2 – A Cry for Help

The mystery writer sat in their dark corner in silence, waiting for the owners of the footsteps and voices to approach the wall that bore the new message in the chalk heart previously made by Helga. The stranger noted that there were three people approaching, based on the number of large shadows that were suddenly painted on another wall that was up front and sat perpendicular to the sidewalk. As the shadows grew in size, the conversation between the three people, or to put more accurately, that one person was carrying on because they had an audience, became more intelligible. The stranger already knew that the voice belonged to Rhonda Wellington Lloyd, but now they knew exactly what she was rattling off about, not that the stranger cared what Rhonda had to say. The stranger knew the conversation had something to do with fashion and then they rolled their eyes at Rhonda's predictability.

'She's too self-centered and cares way too much about what everyone else is thinking or doing. She's nothing like her…' the mysterious person let their thoughts trail off as they gave a soft sigh. Suddenly though, they shook their head out of that kind of thinking and tried to focus on the present matter.

"I mean, she mixed navy blue and black. What was she thinking?! Totally outrageous. So I said, excuse me, Miss Thing, but this is the Fashion Police and I'm going to have to write you a ticket," Rhonda finished her little self-absorbed tirade, which was followed by giggles from the two other people walking beside her. She and the other two came into view as soon as she finished. The stranger was now able to identify the other two as Lila Sawyer and Rhonda's best friend Nadine.

'They are now in front of the wall. This is it,' thought the mystery writer as they braced themselves for what was about to happen.

Rhonda suddenly stopped and brought her hand up to force the other girls to come to an abrupt halt.

"Hold up, girls," Rhonda commanded and then began to read the chalk writing inside the heart, saying each word one at a time to drawl it all out in a way.

"Helga. Loves. Arnold?" the second name was said in the form of a question, but not like one in shock. No, it was more like one of disbelief.

"Whoever wrote that has one weird sense of humor," Rhonda reflected out loud, letting out a light chuckle at the end.

"Yeah, I'll say!" Nadine piped up and started laughing as well.

"I don't know. It could be possible. I mean, someone wrote it on the wall so there is a chance that it is true," Lila pondered.

"That may be true in normal circumstances but in this case, there's a better chance that _that_ was meant to be a joke!" Rhonda gestured to the wall in question to add even more emphasis to the already inflected ' _that_ '.

Lila nodded in understanding at the point that Rhonda had just made but she was by no means done with stating her case.

"Yeah, but still, I think the idea of those two together would be ever so sweet," she smiled genuinely at that, truly sincere with what she had just stated.

Rhonda scoffed and rolled her eyes at Lila's comment.

"I think the appropriate opinion you're looking for would be ever so weird," Rhonda quipped, using Lila's trademarked 'ever so' phrase to help her get her point across better, as well as to mock Lila a little bit. Rhonda was not even close to being done, though, not by a long shot. Lila had provoked Rhonda enough to go into a whole verbal tirade on the subject.

"There is no way Helga loves Arnold. In fact the only feelings Helga has for Arnold is hate. I doubt she has it in her to love anyone!" Rhonda exclaimed. Lila frowned at that last part.

"Now Rhonda, I highly doubt that. Everyone is capable of being in love. There are just those that feel that they cannot express it as openly or conventionally as others, so they result to expressing their love in other ways that are not as obvious," Lila countered in a very thoughtful way.

"Well, that's definitely not Helga though because on what universe is relentlessly picking on someone equate to harboring feelings for them?" Rhonda asked rhetorically. She was going to continue with her rambling on the subject when suddenly her eyes bugged out in realization.

"Wait…Helga may bully anyone who stands in her way but now that I think about it, Arnold has been her target more times than anyone else in the whole school. And sometimes Arnold winds up falling prey to Helga for no particular reason…Oh my gosh!"

The mystery writer thought that were was no way that Rhonda's eyes could get any wider, but they were proven wrong when her eyes did in fact bulge out even more as the owner of said eyes came to yet another realization.

"Lila! You're right! Helga loves Arnold and she bullies him more than anyone because that is her way of expressing that love! She must be too scared to let him know because she knows he won't love her back. And who could blame him? She's a brutish nutcase with no fashion sense!" Rhonda shook her head at that, realizing she was getting off topic.

"Anyways, now we know why Helga is the way she is and now it is our civic duty to help," Rhonda stated, with her head held up high and a fist held to her heart all for effect. She was trying to make the other two girls believe that that was her true motive, instead of really just itching to let this piece of gossip run rampant throughout the halls of P.S. 118.

"It is?" Nadine asked in confused disbelief.

"Well, of course it is!" Rhonda puffed her chest out a little bit, feigning that she felt a sense of honor and responsibility with that statement.

"Helga must be tired of hiding her secret and wants somebody to reveal it for her. Well, aren't we somebodies? Three somebodies actually and so it is up to us to do what Helga is so afraid of doing herself in order to help her. Can't you see, girls? This is obviously a cry for help! I don't know about you two but I am definitely going to answer that cry! Who is with me?" Rhonda looked at the two girls in front of her, staring them down as she impatiently waited for an answer. Rhonda did her best to sound as innocent as possible, disguising her true motive into one that resembled the desire of only wanting to help Helga.

"Wow, I never thought about it all like that. Helga must really be hurting. Yeah, sure I'll help. She doesn't really pick on me or anything but it would be nice if this would result in Helga no longer being a bully," Nadine mused as she agreed with Rhonda. Lila on the other hand was not so convinced. A worried look was written plainly across her face.

"I don't know, Rhonda. While I'm positive that the message is true, I am not so sure that Helga is actually the one who wrote it. What if we're actually being trapped into someone else's hidden scheme to out Helga when she was clearly not ready to let her secret known? That would be ever so mean of us to do something like to Helga, wouldn't it?" Lila asked, sincerely worried about all of that being true.

Honestly, Rhonda didn't care if Helga wrote that on the wall or not. She didn't even really care if it was true or not. She was determined to let the school know if her life depended on it. Okay, maybe that was a little extreme. But still, in Rhonda's mind, Helga deserved this kind of humiliation ten-fold.

'She's had it good for too long. She's never been particularly nice to me anyways so if things get messy there's no way I'll ever feel guilty. Besides, someone wrote that on the wall. And whether or not that someone was Helga does not make one bit of difference the way I see it. Whoever wrote it wants it to be known or why else would they write it? Obviously they needed someone to carry it out, someone with an uncanny gift of gossip and spreading rumors, someone like…well me of course! So really this whole plan can be justified when it's thought of as me simply fulfilling that person's wish,' Rhonda quickly reasoned with herself as she was tying up the loose ends of her plan, getting ready to set it in motion. Her first step would be the whole fourth grade class and the rest of the grades one by one until finally the whole school knew.

But at the present moment, there was the task of getting Lila off her back that Rhonda had to tend to first. Rhonda was definitely not backing out of her plan. She just decided that she was going to leave Lila out of it. Rhonda looked at Lila and did her best to sound concerned and genuine.

"Hmm, I did not think of that happening. Yeah, I guess you're right, Lila. There's a chance Helga didn't write that and I know that none of us wants to hurt her, right girls?" The other two were nodding in agreement.

'I can't believe they are buying it! I must be quite the actress. If that's true then the next time our school is running a play I'm definitely trying out for the lead!' Rhonda thought to herself in delight as her two classmates appeared to be eating up every word she was saying to them and believing them to be truthful.

"Then it's settled. We won't tell unless we know that Helga wrote it. Then we can tell everyone. That's it! We'll just confront her but in a way that she knows that we're there for her and are only trying to help. And in the event that she did not write it, then we'll promise her we won't tell her secret because she is not ready for everyone to know it. We don't have to do this now, though. Let's keep walking and we can work out the logistics later," Rhonda concluded the false new plan she concocted in her attempts to sway Lila and distract her so she wouldn't interfere with the actual plan in any way.

"That sounds like a good idea, Rhonda. But in case this is a prank of some sorts, shouldn't we go and erase the whole thing so no one else will see?" Lila appealed.

"Hmm…," Rhonda pretended to think it over then shrugged. "I don't see the point actually. Anyone who reads it will just think it's one big joke anyways and won't give it a second thought. Come on, girls. We better keep walking,"

Rhonda hoped that she persuaded Lila to leave the message alone. After all, she needed that to be left there because it was proof.

"Yeah, I guess you're right…" Lila conceded. Even though something still did not sit completely well with her, she decided to put it in the back of her mind for now.

Rhonda gave an internal sigh of relief. And with that, the three girls went back on their little walk from school.

When the three girls were out of sight again, the mystery writer took that as a chance to stand up. What just happened between Rhonda, Nadine, and Lila caused a wave of new thoughts that were suddenly swept over the mystery writer.

'Lila does have a point,' the mystery writer thought reluctantly. 'What if the whole school picks on Helga mercilessly as part of some kind revenge? Never mind, they probably will. I never intended for that to happen! And just so it doesn't, I'm not taking any chances,'

Now facing the wall, the mystery writer used their arm to wipe down the whole chalk heart and all its contents.

Looking at the wall in triumph, the stranger brushed off their hands.

'That was a close one,' they thought, clearly believing that the worst was over.

However, they were very sadly mistaken.

 **A/N: And that's chapter 2! Wow that took me nearly 4 hours to write, which I guess is not that long considering that I can get stuck on a chapter for a while, sometimes a few weeks or even months! So that's pretty impressive for me! Sadly, the updates are not going to be as quick as this one was from here on out and I sincerely apologize for that!**

 **Did you like the little "School Play" reference I made?**

 **Also, it looks like the identity of the 'mystery writer' is not going to be revealed until chapter 4 at the earliest! But I did give a little hint in this chapter…think about it!**

 **I'll try to finish and update chapter 3 as quick as I can. I was randomly inspired when writing this chapter so I now have a slightly better idea of how I want to write this so that's good!**

 **Stay tuned for more! I hope you enjoyed! Feel free to tell me your thoughts. I always reply to reviews and as promptly as I can!**

 **Update: Just added a poll to my profile. Check it out if you want!**


	3. I'll Freakin' Kill 'Em

**A/N: Hey, I know I said that updates would take a while but still, I'm sorry for the delay! I appreciate everyone's patience! I can't believe the response I'm getting for this story so far. It may seem small but I'm still starting out and like I've said before, a following is a following!**

 **Anyways, I have some good news and some bad news about this story, much like what I stated in the beginning of the last chapter. The good news is that I finally have most of the story all planned out! It's a little soon to tell but I think this story will be about 10 chapters long, like I had originally anticipated. And then the bad news is that I'm developing some writer's block regarding the writing process of the actual chapters themselves, plus my time is somewhat limited due to my summer job and stuff.**

 **In other news, the identity of the 'mystery writer' will still be…well a mystery, for lack of a better word! I figured out that that's not going to happen until chapter 5. Oh and don't forget the poll I have going on my profile right now!**

 **I thought that this chapter would be shorter than the last one but I was wrong. It's actually a little longer so I hope that can help make up for having to wait about a month for this chapter!**

 **Things are going to get more interesting in this chapter. There's a twist I bet nobody saw coming because I did not think of it until a week ago! That's all I'm revealing here so read onward!**

 **But first…**

 **"HEY ARNOLD!" IS NOT MINE BECAUSE IT DOES NOT SAY "CRAIG BARTLETT" ON MY BIRTH CERTIFICATE…OR "AWESOME" FOR THAT MATTER!**

Chapter 3 – I'll Freakin' Kill 'Em

'Where did Helga run off to? She left behind her school books. How is she going to do the homework assignment without her school books? I think she went this way…but if I can't find her, I'm going in the same direction as her house anyways so I'll just head there while I'm walking to catch up with her. Yes, that idea seems most reasonable,' Helga's best friend, Phoebe Heyerdahl, nodded in affirmation of her impromptu plan as she began to carry it out. After she turned a corner, she could see a couple of figures in the distance. They did not seem to be of a threat to her, which was good because she was without her fencing foil so she was practically defenseless as a result. Phoebe narrowed her eyes to see if at least one of them was someone she knew. It turned out that there was not just one familiar somebody among the figures, but there were actually three. She knew all three of the girls that were standing ahead of her in the distance. They were her classmates Rhonda, Nadine, and Lila. Phoebe noted that they must have been walking home from school together but something interesting has appeared to have interfered from their walk and was currently capturing their attention. In fact, whatever the three girls were engrossed in it seemed to be so astonishing that they didn't even notice Phoebe approaching them. As Phoebe was planning to get their attention with a warm greeting as an opening to her question concerning if they had seen Helga and if so where they had seen her walk off to, that plan was suddenly halted as soon as Phoebe got close enough to hear what the three girls were talking about.

"There is no way Helga loves Arnold. In fact the only feelings Helga has for Arnold is hate. I doubt she has it in her to love anyone!" Rhonda exclaimed.

After hearing that, Phoebe quickly darted behind the side of a building that was right next to her, which was just one building away from where the three girls stood. She very quietly peered out from the corner to watch and listen to the whole scene playing out right in front of her. She could not believe what she was hearing. There were so many questions running through Phoebe's mind at that moment.

'What's going on? How did they get to this subject? Do they actually know the truth about Helga or are they just speculating? If they know, how did they find out? Does it have anything to do with what they are looking at? What are they even looking at anyways?'

Phoebe's mind was flooded with possibilities but she knew she had to focus long enough to listen and hopefully that way she could get some of her questions answered. Even though she did not feel good about eavesdropping, she rationalized the action by reminding herself that she was doing it for Helga and right now it appeared to be the only way to get to the bottom of what was going on.

"Now Rhonda, I highly doubt that. Everyone is capable of being in love. There are just those that feel that they cannot express it as openly or conventionally as others, so they result to expressing their love in other ways that are not as obvious," Lila countered.

'Oh no, what is Lila doing? If Rhonda thinks about what Lila just said then it's all over for Helga. Why would Lila do that to her? Then again, Lila doesn't know and she's too sweet to do this on purpose,' Phoebe reasoned. She knew that Lila was practically providing Rhonda was a life grenade to use against Helga, even though Lila did not know that that was what she was doing of course.

"Well, that's definitely not Helga though because on what universe is relentlessly picking on someone equate to harboring feelings for them?" Rhonda asked and then soon after her eyes suddenly became wide, as if she just realized something.

'Oh no, she probably figured it out,' Phoebe thought in dread about what she knew was coming.

"Wait…Helga may bully anyone who stands in her way but now that I think about it, Arnold has been her target more times than anyone else in the whole school. And sometimes Arnold winds up falling prey to Helga for no particular reason…Oh my gosh!"

"Lila! You're right! Helga loves Arnold and she bullies him more than anyone because that is her way of expressing that love! She must be too scared to let him know because she knows he won't love her back. And who could blame him? She's a brutish nutcase with no fashion sense!" Rhonda finished with a shake of her head. Then she continued once more.

"Anyways, now we know why Helga is the way she is and now it is our civic duty to help,"

'Uh-oh, I do not like where this is going. Rhonda would not use gossip to help anyone, well anyone other than herself that is. What is she up to? She seems sincere and strangely determined, but there's something off-putting about that determination but I can't figure it out. I should probably keep listening before I act on any of this,' Phoebe thought as she willed herself to continue listening. Because of her thoughts, she missed a little bit of the conversation but it didn't seem like it was that important anyways.

"Helga must be tired of hiding her secret and wants somebody to reveal it for her. Well, aren't we somebodies? Three somebodies actually and so it is up to us to do what Helga is so afraid of doing herself in order to help her. Can't you see, girls? This is obviously a cry for help! I don't know about you two but I am definitely going to answer that cry! Who is with me?"

Rhonda was angled in such a way that Phoebe could see her gestures, but her facial expressions were harder to decipher to where Phoebe could only make guesses based on clues such as tone of voice. Phoebe just wasn't close enough to get the full picture, though. Because of all that, Phoebe wasn't fully sure if Rhonda's plan to divulge Helga's secret to the whole school was to help Helga or hurt her. She had a feeling that the latter was more likely considering Rhonda never really liked Helga and she just went from insulting Helga to suddenly dead-set on helping her.

'Something is not right with this,' Phoebe thought.

As Phoebe kept listening, she could hear Nadine suddenly getting on board with Rhonda's plan. Phoebe silently hoped that Lila wouldn't be so easily swayed.

"I don't know, Rhonda. While I'm positive that the message is true, I am not so sure that Helga is actually the one who wrote it. What if we're actually being trapped into someone else's hidden scheme to out Helga when she was clearly not ready to let her secret known? That would be ever so mean of us to do something like to Helga, wouldn't it?" Lila asked, sounding worried.

Phoebe was now trying to process the new piece of information and what exactly it meant.

'The message? Wait…that's it! That's what they're looking at! That must be how they got to talking about this! There must be some message on the wall in front of them that probably says something like 'Helga loves Arnold' and they first thought Helga wrote it so now Rhonda thinks or maybe is pretending to think Helga secretly wants everyone to know because she's too scared to do it herself. This explains everything! But I don't think Helga wrote it. For one thing, if she did she would have definitely erased it before leaving or replace the message with something far less incriminating. Someone must have written it to mess with Helga. Oh, and speaking of Helga, she's definitely not going to like this, but I have to tell her…just not now. I have to wait until they leave,' Phoebe's mind was made up with her new plan of finding Helga later and telling her everything. But first, Phoebe had to wait this out.

'I might as well keep listening,' Phoebe reasoned to herself.

"Hmm, I did not think of that happening. Yeah, I guess you're right, Lila. There's a chance Helga didn't write that and I know that none of us wants to hurt her, right girls?" The other two appeared to be nodding in agreement.

"Then it's settled. We won't tell unless we know that Helga wrote it. Then we can tell everyone. That's it! We'll just confront her but in a way that she knows that we're there for her and are only trying to help. And in the event that she did not write it, then we'll promise her we won't tell her secret because she is not ready for everyone to know it. We don't have to do this now, though. Let's keep walking and we can work out the logistics later," Rhonda finished.

"That sounds like a good idea, Rhonda. But in case this is a prank of some sorts, shouldn't we go and erase the whole thing so no one else will see?" Lila asked.

"Hmm…," Rhonda trailed off then shrugged. "I don't see the point actually. Anyone who reads it will just think it's one big joke anyways and won't give it a second thought. Come on, girls. We better keep walking,"

"Yeah, I guess you're right…" Lila agreed, though kind of reluctantly.

Phoebe could now see the three girls walk away.

'Well that was a quick turn of events. Come to think of it, it was too quick. Though I don't know for sure if Rhonda is going to use Helga's secret to harm her, I can't let her do anything without Helga having some idea of what's going on first. I better give them another minute or two though and then I can rush to Helga's house and then I can finally see that message for myself on the way,' With the final parts of her plan now formed together, Phoebe patiently waited until the moment when she believed would be safe for her to emerge from her hiding spot had arrived.

After a few more minutes, Phoebe got up from the behind the building she was crouched behind and began to walk forward in the direction of Helga's house. It did not take long for her to reach the wall with the alleged message. When Phoebe got there, she could obviously tell that a chalk message was up on that wall at one point but the message itself had been wiped away, very hastily too, which Phoebe made sure to take that observation into consideration.

'Whoever wrote that message must have erased it soon after Rhonda, Nadine, and Lila left. It's just as well. At least no one else will be able to read it. All that matters now is making sure Helga knows what she might be up against regarding Rhonda,' Phoebe rationalized, still as determined as ever to find Helga and tell her all that she had witnessed.

'It's a good thing I was around to hear all that. Sometimes I have no idea how Helga would manage through these kinds of things without me,' Phoebe lightly chuckled to herself as she finished that last thought. She knew deep down that even Helga was aware of that fact as well, even though she would probably never admit it.

Another few minutes had passed when Phoebe finally found herself in front of Helga's stoop. She braced herself for Helga's inevitable explosion of a reaction as she went up the steps and rang the doorbell.

Several seconds of silence later, Phoebe heard some grumbling that seemed to be getting closer. Phoebe was able to make some of it out and as soon as she did it was easy for her to identify who the grumbling belonged to.

"…had to ring while my new commercial was on…" a gruff voice on the other side complained as the owner of that voice had opened the door to see who was so rude to pull them away from their television.

Phoebe was now staring up at the intimidating form that was Big Bob Pataki. Before Phoebe could give any kind of greeting, Big Bob immediately recognized her as one of Helga's friends and wasted no time with getting down to business.

"The girl is in her room," Big Bob stated indifferently as he stepped aside to allow Phoebe to come inside and then closed the door behind her as soon as she was inside. He was back in his chair in front of the television before Phoebe even made it to the first step.

Big Bob wasn't the only one on a mission. Phoebe could've questioned his rudeness but she had more important things to take care of. Besides, this kind of behavior was pretty normal for him anyways.

Phoebe darted up the stairs in no time at all and was now knocking on Helga's bedroom door.

"Criminy, Miriam! I said I would do that later and I will, okay?" Helga's annoyed voice could be heard coming through her bedroom door.

"Helga, it's me, Phoebe," Phoebe stated in a volume that was just loud enough to be heard. She always had been rather quiet but with Helga she knew that she sometimes had to put a little more effort in being more vocal just so she could be heard. This appeared to be one of those times.

The door suddenly opened not long after Phoebe's reply.

"Phoebe? What brings you here?" Helga asked, perplexed to see her best friend standing in front of her but was not annoyed or anything like that. She moved aside for Phoebe to come in and then closed the door behind her. Helga went to sit on her bed as Phoebe was trying to find the right words for her reply. She looked down briefly and that was when she finally noticed the school books in her hands. She had been clutching them the whole time, rather tightly come to think of it, since dull sensations of pain were suddenly shooting through Phoebe's hands.

"Hello, Helga. Well, at first I was trying to find you to give you your school books, since you ran off without them," Phoebe then removed the books from her pile and placed them next to Helga on her bed. After straightening the now smaller pile that was just her own school books in her hands, Phoebe continued.

"But then, as I was walking to your house, I – I – I saw…" Phoebe was having trouble with telling Helga what she observed not too long ago. Phoebe's hesitation was making Helga nervous.

"Phoebe, what is it? Just breathe and spit it out!" Helga ordered kind of harshly, but Phoebe could still quite easily detect the slight note of concern in Helga's voice.

"Breathing!" Phoebe replied in a sing-song way, the usual way she answered to Helga's orders.

Phoebe then sighed deeply and decided that it would be better to just get this over with but she just couldn't look at Helga, at least not in the beginning. Looking away, Phoebe began to recount all she had witnessed, regarding the exchange between the three girls.

As soon as Phoebe was done, Helga wasted no time at all to react.

"WHAT?! Who would write such a thing?"

"I honestly don't know, Helga, but are you sure you don't know?" Phoebe inquired curiously.

"What are you talking about?" Helga asked defensively with a hint of nervousness.

"Well, I didn't notice before but now I can clearly see the chalk residue on your hands," Phoebe replied.

Helga's eyes widened at that as she looked at her hands.

'Criminy! I must have gotten too absorbed into my thoughts to remember to wash my hands! Well, there's no use in denying it. I better just get it over with and besides Phoebe's my best friend,' Helga wrapped up that thought as she sighed heavily to prepare herself for what she was about to tell Phoebe.

"Okay, okay. I was at the wall and I did write a message but it wasn't that one. I wrote 'Arnold loves Helga', not 'Helga loves Arnold'. But I erased the message as soon as I heard Rhondaloid and her big mouth and then I got the heck out of there, I promise!" Helga swore rather excitedly.

"Okay, Helga I believe you. Calm down," Phoebe reassured her before continuing. "Based on what you said, what probably happened was that right after you erased your message and ran off, someone else was nearby and must have wrote the second message, the one that Rhonda, Nadine, and Lila saw. I think – "

"Wait, didn't you see the message too?" Helga asked impulsively, unintentionally interrupting Phoebe as a result.

"Well, I would have if it hadn't been erased by the time I got there. I held back for a couple minutes to put enough distance between the girls and me so we wouldn't run into each other. My guess is that the writer of that message was hiding near that wall and they must have erased it as soon as the coast was clear. Maybe they had second thoughts, like they thought Rhonda might be up to something like I do, or perhaps that was what they wanted, for someone like Rhonda to see it. I mean – "

"Phoebe!" Helga interrupted Phoebe again but this time it was intentional, since she was getting impatient with Phoebe getting carried away with her own speculations, like she was known to do at times, in which an interruption from Helga was usually soon to follow.

"We don't have time for you trying to read the mind of whoever wrote that message, especially because we don't know who they are," Helga explained rather harshly but she was being pretty rational nonetheless.

"Sorry, Helga. You're right. Let's find out the identity of the message writer first and then we can figure out their motive," Phoebe agreed and suggested sincerely.

"Sounds like a plan," Helga nodded in affirmation, which was then followed by a dark sneer before she spoke again.

"And as soon as we find out who wrote that message and started this mess, I'll freakin' kill 'em!" Helga declared forcefully. For emphasis, Helga made a fist with one hand and drove it against the palm of the other hand.

Phoebe sighed in response to that. She had a feeling that something like that would happen. It looked like she had to be the rational one yet again, not that she minded. For the second time that day, Phoebe was aware of how much Helga needed her and it made her feel important, which was just the confidence boost she needed to be able to talk Helga down.

"Now, Helga, let's not do anything rash. We do not need to resort to violence," Phoebe tried to reason.

Helga snorted at that. "Maybe you don't need to. After all, your life is not on the line here,"

"I think you're being a little dramatic," Phoebe responded along with a small shake of her head.

"Phoebe, someone besides you knew my biggest secret and they decided to write it on a wall for people to see. And sure enough, people did and not just anyone but freakin' Rhonda Wellington Lloyd, who may or may not be about to tell the whole school, so yeah, I think I'm applying the right amount of dramatics that this situation calls for," Helga folded her arms both defensively and matter-of-factly as she concluded what she thought was a pretty solid rationalization for her to believe so strongly that this all could very well ruin her.

"Well, when you put it that way, you have a point. And you're right. We don't fully know what Rhonda is going to do with this information so I think we should focus on finding her motive and then if she's going to tell the school we'll try to convince," Phoebe suggested.

"And by 'convince' I don't mean by force," Phoebe quickly added as soon as she saw the dark gleam in Helga's eyes appear.

Helga frowned in response and then sighed.

"Alright, alright. We'll do it your way. We'll confront her first thing tomorrow morning, and yes, 'Ol Betsy and the Five Avengers will have no part in this," Helga agreed in slight surrender. She wasn't too upset about not having to use her fists, though because as always Phoebe knew just how to make her see the reality of things. She was good at showing her what the best course of action would be in situations like these. She was almost as good as Arnold, almost.

Phoebe gave a small smile at that. "I concur with your plan. Now, I should get going. I'll see you tomorrow, Helga," Phoebe waved before she turned and headed for the door.

"Bye, Pheebs," Helga replied just before she heard the opening and then closing of her bedroom door.

'Man, I wouldn't be in this mess if I had not written anything on that wall, if I had just kept going about my business, if I had kept my mouth shut!' Helga thought to herself in exasperation. Then she gave a long, hard sigh.

'But seriously, if I don't get this sorted out soon I might have to actually use my fists to get the job done. Despite what Phoebe thinks, being forceful is necessary at times. I just hope this is not one of those times because it could ugly real fast,'

…..

Meanwhile, Lila Sawyer was sitting in her desk chair in her bedroom. On school days, she liked to brush out her pigtail braids as she went over the day's events as soon as she got home. This time, there was a particular afterschool conversation that she couldn't help replaying over and over again in her head. She could've sworn there was something off about Rhonda suddenly changing her mind like that but she couldn't put her finger on exactly what was the cause of it.

"Oh dear!" Lila exclaimed, her hand frozen mid-brush out of shock. She couldn't believe that she didn't see it earlier but now Lila could very plainly recall the facial expressions on Rhonda's face that was the clue to it all. Looking back, Lila remembered Rhonda briefly insulting Helga before she divulged her first plan of 'helping Helga', which Lila thought was quite odd, coming from Rhonda and all. And then when Rhonda was going over her plan with Lila and Nadine, she had a devilish gleam in her eyes and a dark smirk on her face. Lila suddenly remembered seeing it again when Rhonda changed her mind so quickly and swore that she was only going to use what she knew to confront Helga before she did anything.

'She didn't exactly say when she was going to confront Helga, did she? Come to think of it, Rhonda was never going to include us in any of this, was she?' Lila asked herself even though she knew the answers to both questions.

Now aware of her position, Lila set her brush down on the desktop. She then looked into her mirror with a determined look on her face, a plan beginning to form in her head.

"I am ever so certain that Rhonda is going to use Helga's secret against her. I better warn Helga before it's too late and then maybe together we can try to stop Rhonda. After all, anything is possible," Lila thought aloud, her voice sickeningly hopeful and sweet as always.

 **A/N:**

 **To clarify, a "foil" is one of the three weapons used in fencing. Yes, I googled it! And according to Wikipedia, a typical fencer will prefer to use one over the other two. The foil is one of the smaller ones and seemed like the most basic so I thought it was possible that Phoebe's fencing sword was a foil. I was referencing the fencing scene from "Phoebe Cheats", the second part of Season 2 episode 9, which was a whole season before the episode I'm using as the backdrop for this fanfic so the reference is appropriate!**

 **Once again, I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as I can. Hopefully it won't take this long but can't make any promises! Oh and don't forget the poll!**

 **Also, you might be aware that I make the occasional mistake because I'm human and sometimes I don't proofread as thoroughly as I should. With that said though, I do go back and review what I post and I fix things as soon as I see them!**


	4. A Whole New Side to Her

**A/N: In this chapter you will see some more of the fourth graders from P.S. 118, along with a big gory fight! You can call me lazy all you want but I'm not going to give much of an intro to each one because most of the readers should probably know who they are already right? And besides, breaking down each classmate would take forever!**

 **Did I get ya there? Haha! Gotcha! Nope, no gory fights. Sorry! (disappointed groans in the background)**

 **Anyways…**

 **Must we do this again?**

 **Ok, fine! (*sigh*)**

 **"HA!" NOT MINE. STORY MINE. NOT SHOW. I GO MAKE FIRE NOW. (*giggles*)**

Chapter 4 – A Whole New Side to Her

It is now a brand new school day in Hillwood. The city bus slowed to yet another stop to pick up yet another student. Rhonda Wellington Lloyd gracefully glided up the steps and into the bus with her usual look of disdain for public transportation painted plainly across her. She put her money in the slot and then tilted her chin upward, acting as if she was above all this, as she made the brief journey to the front of the bus. This was basically part of her morning routine.

Rhonda had not forgotten the day before. On the contrary, or as Rhonda would say it, au contrare, she was currently contemplating on which would be the best way to get the ball rolling regarding the reveal of Helga's secret to the whole school. Rhonda continued this contemplation throughout the remainder of the bus's journey to the school, the dark smirk on her face and devilish gleam in her eyes becoming more and more noticeable with each passing minute. Some of the students that were sitting close enough to see Rhonda's facial expression briefly wondered what was going on in her mind but then shrugged it off, knowing that it wouldn't be long until she would tell the whole school what she was grinning madly about. Everyone knew how Rhonda could never keep a secret even if she wanted to.

Seated a few rows behind Rhonda was Helga G. Pataki. She was several rows ahead of her usual seat that was located near the back of the bus. Today, Helga specifically chose a seat in the front/middle because she knew Rhonda would sit in the front and so she strategically sat herself closer in order for her to be able to catch up to Rhonda as soon as they got off the bus, but of course not too close for Rhonda to notice her. In fact, while Rhonda was getting on the bus, Helga had her head down behind the seat the whole time. She made sure that she would not be able to look Rhonda in the eye because Helga had no idea what she would do if she saw a sneer or a smirk, or something else of the like, on Rhonda's face. Helga needed this confrontation to be as private as possible and therefore she knew that she had to keep it together until she had her chance to carry out her plan. After all, a hasty decision is what got her into this mess in the first place!

Helga wasn't the only fourth grader with a plan up her sleeve. Seated a couple of rows ahead of Helga, but on the opposite side of her and on the same side as Rhonda, was Lila Sawyer. Like Helga, Lila had a strategy regarding her chosen bus seat for this morning's ride. Lila wanted to be behind Rhonda but in front of Helga in case she needed to intervene for some reason. After all, right before Rhonda got on the bus, Lila noticed Helga peering out from the side around the seat in front of her. Lila recalled Helga having a knowing look on her face, like one of slight rage and determination, along with a hint of something else that Lila could've sworn resembled closely to fearful.

'So Helga knows. But how? Oh, I'm sure she had her ways. She is just ever so smart like that,' Lila thought to herself, now more sure than ever that both Helga and Rhonda were planning to do something. Though different, both plans were probably evil and they were both going to occur as soon as the bus dropped everyone off in front of the school. Lila had to figure out, and quickly, just which plan she needed to get in the middle of first. After some brief consideration on both sides, Lila reasoned that Helga's plan was the most pressing, for it seemed that she was about to execute it as soon as everyone was off the bus while Rhonda seemed to be still figuring out the right moment.

'She's probably going to wait until we're all in the classroom first. Knowing her, she'll start with telling our fourth grade class and then let it spread like wildfire. This means that I still have some time before that happens. Helga it is,' Lila slightly nodded to herself as she set her brand new plan in stone. Lila's timing couldn't have been more perfect because as soon as she confirmed her plan to herself, the bus suddenly made a screeching halt in front of P.S. 118, with the door opening barely a second later. The driver really hated being stuck with the school shift and wanted to be rid of those annoying kids!

'Ok, this is it, Helga 'ol girl. It's go time! Better turn bully mode on!' Helga thought to herself with a hidden chuckle, but quickly composed herself. She had to focus.

"One side, morons! Out of my way!" Helga's tough and booming voice sounded throughout the bus. All the students stopped from trying to get off the bus and gave Helga a clear berth of the bus aisle, much like Helga had anticipated.

'Man, I am good!' Helga thought, wanting to smile at that but knew she had to keep that scowl on her face for appearances sake.

Helga charged forward and she was off the bus in no time at all.

'Now where is Princess Rhondaloid?' Helga asked herself as her eyes scanned the front of the school. They soon spotted Rhonda just a few seconds after she started her little search.

'Ah, there she is,' Helga confirmed to herself as her eyes narrowed and her lips curled into a dark grin.

'I think it's time we had a little chat,' Helga thought, rather evilly as she pushed her way through the crowd to make her way to Rhonda.

"Helga! I'm ever so glad I found you! I need to talk to you just ever so much!"

"Not now, Mary Sunshine. I have business to attend to,"

"I know and I'm afraid I can't let you do that,"

"Wha – " Before Helga could finish asking Lila what in the heck she was going to do, Lila grabbed ahold of Helga's arm and dragged her over to the little area by one of the sides of the school steps because of it being slightly more private and all.

As Helga was being dragged against her will, she looked around, suddenly noticing that Phoebe was now not too far behind her. Helga looked at Phoebe as she pointed her head in Rhonda's direction and then looked back at Phoebe with a look of expectation. Yesterday, Helga called Phoebe to tell her about the backup plan she devised in case Rhonda needed to be distracted for some reason. Phoebe immediately got the message from Helga's signals. Phoebe sighed deeply and then nodded at Helga. She didn't want to do this but she knew it was for Helga and this was a desperate time. Phoebe walked to a small crowd of students walking not far behind Rhonda and pretended to trip behind one of them, causing them to fall on top of Rhonda, who then fell over in the process. Rhonda and the other kid groaned as they both got up. Rhonda gasped as she inspected the damage.

"My Caprini slacks! They're ripped! They're ruined! You're going to pay for this!" Rhonda turned to the kid in question and scowled at him.

"Uh, it wasn't my fault. I was tripped?" the kid said rather timidly.

"Oh you'd like me to think that wouldn't you?!" Rhonda practically exploded at the trembling kid. At this point she was shrouded in a red-hot rage.

…

'I must admit that that was genius. I guess being bad has the occasional advantages,' Phoebe thought to herself as she quickly caught back up to Lila and Helga. When Phoebe approached the two girls, she figured that she didn't miss much. Lila had stopped dragging Helga and Helga seized the opportunity to fight her way out of Lila's hold, though it was not much of a fight to begin with since Lila was just about to let go of Helga anyways when Helga broke free.

"Let go of me! What's the big idea, Lila?! You have a lot of nerve to do that to me! That's something I would expect from…well, me! Not you!" Helga boomed at Lila furiously, madly waving her arms up in the air with a hard scowl on her face.

Lila's eyes went wide as she gulped in fright. She leaned back and cowered a little bit. This all was short lived, though. It was mainly just a reflex. After all, Lila pretty much expected that Helga would react like this. Therefore, it wasn't long until her confidence returned. Lila straightened herself before she replied.

"I am ever so sorry, Helga. You don't know how much I hated doing that. You're right. That was so not like me. But this couldn't wait and you wouldn't listen to me before so basically I knew that I had to act like…well, you, just so you would listen to what I had to say," Lila finished her little appeal with a hopeful look. She hoped that Helga would believe her and would in turn let her say what she wanted. She just patiently waited for Helga to think it over.

A few seconds later, Helga's scowl softened as she took in a deep sigh. Her look now appeared to be one of thoughtfulness and only mild annoyance.

"Hmm…yeah, I suppose you're right. And it did work so I guess I understand," Helga conceded after she had a chance to think it over. Lila sighed in relief, but it was short-lived because Helga was not finished. She suddenly got back in Lila's face as she pointed a finger at her.

"But don't you ever try that again!" Helga ordered.

Lila was unfazed. She was kind of expecting this to happen too. Lila nodded calmly. It was an easy thing to promise considering the fact that she never had plans to try that again anyways!

In response to Lila's nod, Helga immediately backed off and composed herself. She brushed off her hands as if it was an action done to represent self-affirmation in a job well done. She did that while smirking slightly.

"Good. I'm glad we got that settled," Helga stated as she started to cross her arms, like she was changing the subject and suddenly needed a new position to portray that. If someone was to assume that, they'd be pretty spot-on.

"Aren't you worried about your reputation? You're supposed to be the sweet and perfect one. I mean, it'd be one thing if no saw but I'm afraid that little stunt you pulled has attracted quite the audience," Helga motioned to the small crowd of students standing several feet away with a glance. She couldn't bear to scan the crowd in case a certain someone was part of it. Helga needed to be as focused as possible.

Lila briefly turned her head to see for herself and sure enough Helga was right. Lila shrugged her shoulders in response.

"Oh, I'm not the least bit worried. That will resolve itself with time and I don't mind if they are curious. It's not like they can hear us anyways," Lila reasoned as she brushed the whole thing off.

'I'm glad Lila said that because I wasn't aware how worried I was about them hearing us until now,' Helga thought to herself in realization.

'Now back to this,' Helga thought as she brought her attention back to what was truly important.

"Ok, you said you had something to tell me, though I already know what it's about, but now you have my attention so go ahead. But make it quick. Like I said earlier, I have business to attend to and I don't have much time to do it," Helga ordered. The last part of what she said triggered a memory, causing her to look briefly at Phoebe, who she noticed in her peripheral vision had caught up to her and Lila not too long ago. She gave her best friend a look that clearly had some kind of unspoken question attached to it. Phoebe immediately caught on to Helga's telepathic message as she quickly nodded in response. Helga sighed in relief at that.

'Good. I have some more time, but not much. Lila better make this snappy or my life will be over,' Helga silently groaned to herself in response to the way that thought ended. Her thoughts nearly caused her to miss out on what Lila was starting to say. Almost.

Lila was planning to tell Helga all she knew from yesterday. However, there was something that Helga said that confused Lila. She just had to know what Helga was getting at.

"Oh, so you do know, but how?" Lila asked in curiosity.

"Phoebe was walking to my house when she overheard the conversation between Rhonda, Nadine, and you, about a certain brick wall yesterday," Helga answered knowingly, a hint of accusation was in her voice. Even though out of all three girls Rhonda was the most likely to blab Helga's secret to the whole school, because Phoebe told her everything that she witnessed, Helga knew that Rhonda would have never believed that chalk message had Lila not helped Rhonda come to that realization. Yes, Helga knew that Lila probably didn't do that on purpose but she was still a part of the reason why this whole mess was happening. Then again, Lila seemed to be full of surprises. After all, she did grab Helga and then proceeded to drag her just to get her to listen to her. At this point, it's hard to know which of her actions were intentional and which ones were not. With all that in mind, Helga just wasn't going to take any chances. And definitely not in the present circumstances. Helga took all this into consideration as she continued.

"Phoebe also told me that if it wasn't for you putting the idea into Rhonda's head, there would not even be the possibility of her divulging my secret to the whole school," Helga stated.

"Wait…so it's true?! Oh my gosh! That is ever so sweet. I think you and Arnold would be a cute couple and – ," Lila was starting to get carried away. Helga had no choice but to cut in.

"Get on with it..." Helga warned, as she let what she said drag on into a low growl.

"Oh, sorry," Lila apologized, looking slightly guilty but still excited for the most part. But Lila took a deep in order to help compose herself before Helga got too angry.

"So…you heard this from Phoebe, meaning you didn't write the message?" Lila inquired. Helga shook her head in response. Helga decided to omit the part about the original chalk message and how she was the author of it barely a minute prior to the time the second message was written in its place.

"And I am terribly sorry about Rhonda. I was just trying to get Rhonda to see the good in you, that you are capable of loving. I had no idea that Rhonda would use this information against you," Lila explained as she apologized once more but for another action, one she was not aware that she had a hand in until it was too late.

"So, it's true? Rhonda is going to tell the whole school?" Phoebe piped up. Lila moved her gaze to Phoebe's face so she could answer her properly.

"I'm afraid that I am not entirely sure about that, but I have a hunch that she might be leaning towards such an action. In fact, I went over the conversation in my mind as soon as I got home yesterday and after some consideration I finally noticed the look on Rhonda's face. It was gleeful but just ever so dark at the same time. That's why I'm talking to you now," Lila turned her focus to Helga as she said that last sentence before she continued.

"I wanted to warn you of what you might be up against, as well as to advise you to not result to hurting Rhonda just yet. We need to first confront her together and see if she's actually planning to tell the school. If she is, then we'll just have to persuade her not to," Lila explained as she concluded the gist of what she wanted to tell Helga.

Helga appeared to be processing Lila's plan, a pensive look on her face. She then looked to Phoebe, who seemed to be agreeing with Lila.

"I would have to concur with Lila on this one, Helga. There is strength in numbers after all," Phoebe reasoned. Now that broke Helga's stoic expression. She suddenly looked stunned and slightly amused. It looked like the two girls were ganging up on her.

"Did I look that menacing earlier?" Helga asked, slightly shocked. The other two girls both looked away from Helga's gaze and nodded sheepishly. Helga gave a low chuckle at that.

"Wow, I'm better than I thought," Helga gave a small smirk before she continued.

"Oh, alright. I didn't really want to hurt her anyways. Like Phoebe and I planned yesterday, I was only going to talk to her but I guess I let my emotions get the better of me," Helga sighed at that revelation she just made about herself in that moment.

'I can't keep it together for one minute can I?! Criminy!' Helga thought in annoyance at herself. Before she went any further with her little moment of self-loathing, she decided to put those thoughts away for the time being. She had plenty of time to mentally beat herself up later but first she had to get this whole mess resolved so with a shake of her head, Helga brought herself back to the present. She was ready to get this plan started.

"Alright, so what are we waiting for? Let's go find Rhonda before it's too late," Helga ordered. The order was more of a determined one, like that of a true leader, than a harsh one that would likely come from a brutal enforcer.

The other two girls nodded in agreement and then the three of them began to walk towards the entrance of the school.

...

About a few minutes earlier, there was a small group of P.S. 118 students that stayed rooted in the same standing positions they were in when they got off the bus. The group was mostly comprised of the fourth grade class. At first, they were watching the little meltdown Rhonda had when she fell and ripped one of the knees of her pants in the process. Since Rhonda was a fourth grader, it makes sense that the other fourth graders who rode the bus would be mesmerized enough to stay behind and watch instead of going into the school, like most of the other students had. Or so it would seem but in actuality, that's not what those students were looking at. Rhonda freaking out about her clothes was nothing new to her classmates. Sure, it was amusing for a second but then again the whole thing was barely noticed by those fourth graders that stayed behind. This was because there was something even more interesting playing out right in front of them at about the same time as Rhonda's meltdown. The fourth graders knew the individuals involved and therefore knew that what they witnessed was so out of character that they couldn't help but watch, except Rhonda of course because she was too enraged and determined to even notice what was going on behind her, since she was already on her way to the school steps when she fell over.

"Willickers! I had no idea Ms. Lila had that in her!" Stinky Peterson exclaimed in disbelief.

"Yeah, boy howdy! You'd expect that sort of thing from Helga but not Lila!" Stinky's buddy Sid agreed.

"Wow, she's gotta be tougher than Helga!" Harold Berman, the sort-of leader of Stinky and Sid's little group, excitedly stated. Suddenly a noise could be heard from Harold's stomach, who immediately changed his expression and rubbed his belly in response.

"Aw, this excitement is making me hungry!" Harold whined.

Meanwhile, two other fourth grade boys were approaching the three.

"What's going on, Gerald?" Arnold asked his best friend curiously.

"I don't know but I'm gonna find out," Gerald Johansen answered as he approached Harold because he was the closest of the three boys.

"What's the hubbub, Bubba?" Gerald asked Harold.

"Helga is being dragged by Lila! Look!" Harold answered as he nodded his head to signal that the two boys should be looking out in front of them. Harold's hunger was briefly put on hold as soon as he was presented with that question. The excited feelings returned to him once more.

Sure enough, when Arnold and Gerald looked in front of them, they saw Lila have a strong hold on Helga's arm as she was dragging a shocked looking Helga to the area by the right side of the school steps, well their right that is.

"Mmm-mmm-mmm!" Gerald exclaimed as he crossed his arms and shook his head with his eyes closed. That was all part of that expression, which was one of his signature moves in and of itself. "Just when I think I've seen it all! I know what I'm seeing but I just don't believe it!" He declared.

Arnold's reaction on the other hand was to just silently contemplate what he was seeing.

'I didn't know Lila could be like that! It's like seeing a whole new side to her! Who knew that under all that sweetness is a hidden tough girl? But it seems that she can control it. She just chooses to be sweet, really sweet. And funny. She's also so smart and that red hair…wait, what? Oh no…oh no…,' Arnold couldn't believe the direction that his thoughts were suddenly going in. He also couldn't believe that it was only yesterday when he swore he did not think of Lila in that way but now it was like he was suddenly a liar. For about a minute, Arnold was trying to convince himself that he was being crazy and he only thought of Lila as a friend. Unfortunately, that was not working out so well for him. It's a good thing everyone else was too engrossed in the scene before them because Arnold's frustrated look would have made anyone want to question him immediately.

'Ok, ok. I admit it. I like Lila. No, wait, I like-like her. And if my last big crush has taught me anything it's that I need to be up front with Lila about this as soon as possible,' Arnold was of course referencing the crush he had on sixth-grader Ruth P. McDougal. Arnold knew that if he had just summoned the courage to talk to Ruth sooner, he would not have wasted so much time on all those plans and schemes the way he did. Plus, Lila was in his class so they already knew each other. It made the situation far less intimidating.

After thinking it over one last time, Arnold was sure about a few things: he suddenly developed a crush on Lila and that he should tell her as soon as he had the chance to. There was just one important thing that Arnold did not know for sure and that was how Lila would react when he told her.

 **A/N: Hey guess what? In the next chapter, the identity of the 'mystery writer' finally gets revealed! Woohoo!**

 **Hey, what if Lila was the inverse of Helga? Like a hidden tough girl. Ya know like Helga is a hidden romantic? Hey, it could happen!**


	5. Because I Knew You Wouldn't

**A/N: As promised, you're going to find out who wrote the message, which makes my poll pretty much pointless now. It will be deleted by the time I post this.**

 **And like always: "HEY ARNOLD!" IS NOT MINE, OK? I'VE JUST BEEN INSPIRED TO WRITE THIS BECAUSE OF THE SHOW!**

Chapter 5 – Because I Knew You Wouldn't

As Helga, Phoebe, and Lila entered the school, they realized they still had a few minutes before the first bell rang. That particular bell was meant to be a warning bell, signaling for all the students to get inside and be ready to be in their classrooms before the next bell rang in five minutes. The three girls knew they had just enough time to stop Rhonda before she blabbed to the whole class, but they had to act fast. They continued walking until one suddenly stopped in the middle of the hallway after they turned a corner, causing the other two to pause, turn, and look to the one in question with confusion. It turned out to be Helga who suddenly stopped in her tracks. Both Phoebe and Lila silently observed that Helga appeared to be internally debating something based on her facial expression. The two just stared at Helga quizzically until she was able to explain what was going on. This only lasted a few seconds, but it seemed so much longer to Lila and Phoebe. Finally, Helga looked at the two girls in front of her and gave them a sheepish look.

"Sorry, I just realized that I have to go to my locker first, but I'll be quick and I'll catch up as soon as I'm done," Helga quickly promised as she turned and darted down the hallway. She left without Lila or Phoebe a chance to even think about what she said, let alone reply to it.

The two girls exchanged a look as they each glanced in the other one's face. That whole scene appeared to be quite suspicious

They both hoped she wasn't getting nervous, or worse: that she might be considering the idea of tracking down and dealing with Rhonda on her own. However, the two girls noticed the direction that Helga was heading and they each gave a sigh of relief. Helga was sprinting in the opposite direction of the classroom, but it was actually in the correct direction of her locker.

"Perhaps, she really is going to her locker but I don't see why. She has all her books," Phoebe noted.

"Yeah, and she did look kind of nervous didn't she? Almost guilty, right?" Lila asked in observation.

"I concur," Phoebe agreed as she nodded.

"You know, Phoebe, maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to follow Helga, but trailing behind her quite a ways of course. We can meet up with her when she's done and just say we decided to meet her halfway or something if she asks us about it. I mean, Helga doesn't appear to be in the best shape right now so it'd probably be best to make sure Helga is going to her locker like she said she would and not anywhere else," Lila proposed her idea to Phoebe. She gave Phoebe a knowing look as she finished.

"It sounds like you've been reading my mind," Phoebe noted in response to the last part of Lila's proposition, as well as the look she gave her.

"I guess I did. Well after all, it wouldn't be unheard of for Helga to still want to take matters into her own hands," Lila reasoned.

"Well, that may be a bit extreme of us to follow her but then again, based on everything else we've done, how could this not be any different?" Phoebe asked rhetorically in reply. She did it in a slightly joking manner. There was an amused gleam in her eyes and a soft chuckle was suddenly surfacing. Phoebe's response caused Lila to chuckle softly in return.

"That's ever so true. And with that, we'd better go follow her," Lila stated. Phoebe nodded in response. And soon enough the two girls rushed down the hallway, going in the same direction Helga went in about several seconds ago.

…

As Helga got to her locker, she scanned both directions of the hallway for any students, but later to discover that she was by herself.

"I know I have a minute or two before the first bell but I can never be too cautious, especially not after what happened yesterday," Helga thought out loud. She then gave a low sigh as she put her hand to her face.

"Well, Helga 'ol girl, this is it, or about to be. Ah, I know it's now or never. I know what I have to do but for some reason I just had to make some excuse to come here where I knew I'd be alone, just so I could do what I've been itching to do all morning," Helga reasoned, as if she needed to explain to herself what her motives were for running off to her locker like that.

Helga's other hand then reached into the internal pocket located at the top part of her jumper. This is where she kept her heart, or more accurately put her Arnold locket, but to be honest there was not much difference between the two anyways. Helga gently cupped the heart-shaped locket with both hands as she slowly lifted it up to her face. She stared lovingly at Arnold's picture as she began her first 'Arnold monologue' of the day.

"Oh, Arnold, my love, this is quite the mess I have gotten myself into and this is all because of my love for you. Just when I think I have covered my tracks well enough, I realize sometime later that I've actually jeopardized my secret no longer being a secret anymore. It's not that I'm ashamed of loving you, my flaxen haired angel. Far from it. I'm just afraid of what everyone well think, well not everyone actually. I'm more so worried about what you will think. I know you'll be shocked and disgusted because I'm just a bully to you, right? And why not because that has all been my handiwork to keep you from getting too close to me, for it you did, I would melt into a puddle and there'd be no knowing what I would reveal to you. I did it to protect me but now I can actually never get close. I guess my work has been a little too good, huh? It must be because I know one thing and that's if this gets out, I won't get closer to you loving me, but actually only much further. Once again, you'll get disgusted with the truth, with me. Oh who am I kidding myself anyways? It'll never be. You'll never love me. You'll never – " Helga suddenly stopped the little pity party she was throwing herself when her ears were filled with this loud, wheezing sound. Helga frowned when she realized what the sound was. As if it was routine, Helga put the locket back in her jumper pocket with one hand and used the other to make a fist. As she swung her fist back to give Brainy a good, as well as what she thought was well-deserved, punch in the face, Helga was shocked to feel two hands grab hold of her fist instead of the usual sensation of her smashing Brainy's glasses.

Helga was so confused. She was afraid that she imagined Brainy's loud breathing. Her eyes went wide at the possibilities swarming in her head.

'Great. First, I let a stranger reveal my secret and now I just poured my heart out to another stranger, or maybe the same one?! That's it, I have to find out who this is and face this new problem head-on. There's no use in being scared now,' Helga reasoned to herself as she took a deep breath, getting herself ready for what she was about to do.

Helga then turned around and saw for herself who grabbed her fist like that.

'I knew it!' Helga thought because in front of her, staring her in the face, with a now bewildered expression, and still holding onto her fist, was Brainy!

"Brainy!?" Helga's voiced was filled with both alarm and annoyance. Brainy followed her a lot but it was so unlike him to block her punch like that.

"Uh…hi?" muttered the boy in question in a very unsure way.

"Too late for manners now, bucko! Obviously you have something to tell me," Helga nodded to the fist still in Brainy's hands as she said that, to which Brainy realized and then released her fist from his grasp. That seemed like a bad idea because now Helga had that fist aimed at Brainy's face as she scowled at him before continuing.

"So you better get on with it before I actually do punch you," Helga warned, staring him for a few seconds until he started to say what he wanted to say to Helga. He saw her about to confront Rhonda earlier and he didn't know how but he just knew that she knew so he had to stop her from doing something crazy like beating up Rhonda.

"Don't…hurt…Rhonda…it's not…worth it," Brainy finally got out, in a sort of pleading tone. Helga should've figured it out by now but she didn't. She just chalked it off to an observation he got from stalking her yet again, but she did think there was something more to that, though she couldn't put her finger on it. Until she figured it out, Helga just decided to humor Brainy for now.

"I actually wasn't going to but for argument's sake let's just say I was. Why would it not be worth it?" Helga asked with mock curiosity, crossing her arms and staring him down with one half of her eyebrow curved upward for effect.

'I can't believe she hasn't figured it out by now! And she thinks Arnold is dense! Ha! Maybe they do belong together…' Brainy thought. He was first exasperated but that thought drifted off on a sad note. He immediately got himself out of that dark place, like he had several times before, and decided to just go ahead and get the truth out there.

"Because…Rhonda…didn't write…that message…I did," Brainy stated simply, albeit breathily.

Helga's eyes bugged out in response. Brainy thought she would be stuck like that but he couldn't be more wrong. In a flash, her expression changed from one of shock to one of rage. She grabbed Brainy by the shirt collar, hoisted him up, and stared him down with the most terrifying scowl he had ever seen come from Helga G. Pataki, or from anyone else for that matter, in his entire life!

"And what in the heck would possess you to do that!?" Helga snarled.

No matter how scared Brainy was at that moment, he knew he had to remain calm and just tell the truth. Brainy gulped, summoning up all the courage he had, as he got ready to explain.

"Because…I knew…you wouldn't," Brainy answered. He had a calm, knowing look on his face, despite the danger of his current situation.

Helga froze at Brainy's words. She stayed like that for a good while. The first bell even rang but Helga didn't notice. Helga still had Brainy lifted up and when the other students started to come through the halls they all assumed a fight was about to happen based on Helga's position and so they crowded around the two kids as a result.

Before the crowd of students began to form, thus blocking their vision, Phoebe and Lila were watching the whole scene. They were just several paces behind them of course so they were unable to hear what Helga was saying earlier and she was facing away from them anyways.

"Well it looks like Helga is preoccupied at the moment," Phoebe began as she turned her head in Lila's direction.

"Yes, it looks like it. You know, now that I think about it, maybe confronting Rhonda with Helga around may not be the best idea. Let's just go ahead and do the confrontation without her," Lila suggested as she glanced back at Phoebe. Phoebe immediately nodded in response.

"I think that would be wise. If we hurry, we can still beat Rhonda to the classroom," Phoebe stated in agreement.

And like that, the two girls were off, in search of Rhonda, heading in the opposite direction of a frozen Helga still clutching a bewildered Brainy.

 **A/N: Well now you know who wrote the message! Are you shocked or are you kicking yourself? (Lol) Anyways, the next chapter is going to be an interesting one! You just have to wait and see. I don't know when the update will happen so stay tuned!**


	6. You're Crazy and I Like it

**A/N: Ok. So I thought that I could finish this before school started but it doesn't look that way. I'm still going to try my best to and get as close to that as I can though. The good news is that I'm already halfway done! 5 chapters down, 5 more to go, which brings us to this chapter!**

 **Like the last chapter, this is another short one. The next one will be longer.**

 **Once again…**

 **"HEY ARNOLD!" DOES NOT BELONG TO ME. I WROTE THIS STORY BASED OFF OF INSPIRATION TAKEN FROM EPISODES ABOUT THE AFOREMENTIONED CHARACTERS. STORYLINE CHANGES AND IDEAS ARE MINE BUT THAT'S ABOUT IT.**

Chapter 6 – You're Crazy and I Like it

Phoebe and Lila were in luck. As they were heading in the direction of their classroom, they could see Rhonda walking to the same destination but just in the opposite end of the hall. There seemed to be the same amount of distance between her and the classroom as there was between the classroom and the two girls, meaning that they could catch up to Rhonda just in time. That is exactly what they did. Just when Rhonda was about to enter the classroom, she was quickly intercepted by Phoebe and Lila. The two girls pulled Rhonda aside, each one having a hold of one of Rhonda's arms. The action was so quick that it was easy to miss and besides, the hallway was too cluttered with students anyways.

Phoebe and Lila guided Rhonda just a few feet away from the classroom, positioned at the side of the classroom door where the door hinges were located. Phoebe and Lila let go of Rhonda. They both pivoted their feet slightly and turned inwardly so that they were both facing Rhonda, in such a way that they had their backs to the doorframe. This was both a last minute and a strategic decision. The two girls just gave each other a look as they let go of Rhonda and then each one nodded in affirmation. It was like they shared a brief telepathic moment. They both decided to be facing that way to better help prevent anything about Helga's secret getting out to their classmates as they were entering the classroom.

Rhonda's frozen expression of shock thawed as soon as Phoebe and Lila turned to face her. A look of annoyance and slight confusion now occupied her face, but that one was short-lived. Rhonda was not stupid. It only took her a second to figure out what this little confrontation was all about. She first decided to try her hand at feigning innocence.

"Wow, girls, if I had known you were that eager for my fashion advice, I'd have suggested to meet with you earlier but now I'm afraid that it'll have to wait until after school, since I need more time to help the both of you," Rhonda smirked. She was saying all that as she was lightly brushing her hands down her blouse.

"Rhonda, we're not falling for that. Not only was that bad acting on your part, it was also quite insulting," Phoebe countered, her hands placed defiantly on her hips.

"Yes, that was just ever so mean and uncalled for," Lila agreed. Rhonda's quip might have distracted Lila but Phoebe definitely was not easily swayed. She had a feeling that Lila would get a little carried away so just as she was about to speak again, Phoebe held a hand up close to Lila's face as a way to stop her as well as to hopefully remind her of what really mattered at that moment.

"But that doesn't matter. What matters is that we know what you are about to do and we are not going to let that happen," Phoebe warned as she crossed her arms and gave Rhonda a hard look. She had no clue where all this strength was coming from. Perhaps she was channeling all that she subconsciously picked up from being friends will Helga for the past six years. That was entirely plausible but whatever the reason, Phoebe knew that she had to hold on to this newfound strength in order to see this through. After all, this was for Helga.

Rhonda's calm, innocent expression faltered slightly at Phoebe's words but resolved quickly. She secretly hoped it went unnoticed. It didn't. Phoebe witnessed the slight change and it just made her feel stronger.

"I'm sure I don't know what you are talking," Rhonda denied, her voice oozing with fake innocence.

"I'm ever so certain you do know what we're talking about," Lila retorted back, Rhonda's little insult was now long forgotten to her.

"No, I don't," Rhonda stubbornly denied once more. If Phoebe didn't intervene, this back-and-forth could've gone on for who knows how long.

"Enough. We don't have time for this. Let's just get this out in the open now. Rhonda, we know about your plans to reveal Helga's secret to the whole school but you're not going to because we won't let you," Phoebe explained, mostly annoyed at this point. However, she still had the best self-control out of anyone her age. Therefore, Phoebe remembered to not let her temper force her to exclaim anything. Her voice was strong while maintaining a low volume and nobody overheard what she just said as a result.

Rhonda now had her hands on her hips, her innocent demeanor long gone at this point. She felt threatened and there was no way she was going down without a fight.

"And just how are you going to do that?" Rhonda asked smugly.

As soon as Rhonda posed that question, it had suddenly occurred to Phoebe that she did not get this far in her planning. How exactly was she going to stop Rhonda?

After a few silent seconds had passed, Rhonda was getting close to walking past from Phoebe and Lila while saying some kind of remark like 'Good talk, girls,' or 'Yeah, good plan,' but she did not get to do that. A thought randomly popped into Phoebe's head. It had something to do with Helga's initial reaction the day before. Helga's rage was suddenly viewed by Phoebe as their secret weapon.

Phoebe looked up at Rhonda with freshly painted smirk on her face.

"Helga already knows about what you plan to do. She's a little preoccupied at the moment but I'm sure it won't be much trouble to find her and tell her that she is needed here. If we can't persuade you to do the right thing, which is shutting your mouth for once and keeping Helga's secret a secret, then I know for a fact that Helga can and she will. And to clarify, when I say 'Helga', I mostly mean her fists," Phoebe warned as she smiled coldly.

That definitely got Rhonda's attention. She thought she had concocted the perfect plan but she forgot one important detail: Helga herself. Even if Helga didn't know, it wouldn't be hard for Helga to find out at some point that Rhonda blabbed to the whole school. And even if Phoebe was bluffing about Helga knowing, which she wasn't but Rhonda wasn't sure of that, Phoebe was definitely not bluffing about the part involving Helga's fist and Rhonda knew that. She somehow forgot to consider the fact that Helga would beat her to a bloody pulp if Rhonda told her secret. Rhonda had no choice now but to surrender.

"Ok, ok. You're right. I won't tell anyone, ok? I promise. Anything to keep Helga off my back. I've had one garment torn today and I don't want another," Rhonda conceded as she put her hands up as if she was just ordered to by a cop.

Phoebe and Lila were no smiling to each other, silently celebrating a job well done.

"That's all we ever wanted, Rhonda," Phoebe answered knowingly.

"Yes, just ever so much. Well, we should get to class. See you around, Rhonda," Lila agreed as she smiled sweetly at Rhonda.

Lila and Phoebe turn and walk off in separate directions. Lila headed to her locker while Phoebe went to help break up the fight between Helga and Brainy. Rhonda was left alone to sulk by the doorway. Crossing her arms, she leaned against the wall, a sour expression on her face. She hated that someone else was right and not her. She hated that doing the right thing meant she couldn't do what she wanted.

"I can't believe this. I can't believe my plan has been ruined before I even had the chance to do anything! There's just got to be a way around this! But there's not. I've got a juicy piece of gossip and now I'm forced to not tell anyone. This is not fair!"

"I couldn't help but overhear your dilemma and I must say I am intrigued of how obsessed you are about this," a familiar voice stated. Rhonda could have easily figured out who the voice belonged to if she had not been so distracted at that present moment. She did end up answering them even though she was more so carrying on with her little rant.

"It's just not fair. She doesn't deserve to get away with anything. And besides, I'm the school gossip. It's my duty to let stuff like this be known to the whole school," Rhonda continued.

"Wow. It's worse than I thought. You're not just obsessed. You're crazy…and I like it!" The voice got all excited but Rhonda was still out of it. She was still distracted, even when a pair of hands suddenly had a hold of her, one on her upper back and the other on the lower back. The hands pull her close then spin her around, dip her backwards, and then the owner of those hands lean forward. They go in for the kill.

Rhonda has not completely come to at this point but she is now able to identify the person who is holding her so brusquely.

"Give daddy some sugar," Curly ordered, giving Rhonda no choice in the matter as he quickly crushed his lips against Rhonda's.

That was more than enough to snap Rhonda out of her reverie. Her eyes are bulging and she is releasing muffled screams against Curly's lips. After what seemed like forever, Rhonda finally manages to break free. She pushes Curly off of her and uses her arm to wipe her lips.

"Get away from me you little freak!" Rhonda shouted in disgust. She heads for her classroom as quickly as she can.

"Can I carry your books later for you, my pet?" Curly asked hopefully to which Rhonda replied with a groan as the two of them entered the classroom.

Suddenly, Rhonda now has other things to worry about besides Helga's secret!

 **A/N: I hoped you liked how that ended! I came up with it while planning the story out and I thought it was hilarious. While planning this, I realized that we don't really know how/when Curly began crushing on Rhonda so I decided to put a little made-up origin story in this chapter! In my opinion, the timing, chronologically speaking with the series in mind of course, is about right.**

 **I don't know when the next chapter will be up. Hopefully within the next week but who knows? I sure don't! I've had to take care of some school-related stuff lately and that's mostly resolved now but I still have to work for a few more weeks!**


	7. Somebody Would Get Hurt

**A/N: I know I suck! I just haven't been in the mood to finish this lately but I really want to! I also haven't had the time because of school…You might think that there's nothing left to write on this but there's still some loose ends that need tying up and this chapter is where it all begins. Let's get to it!**

 **BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE:**

 **"HEY ARNOLD!" IS NOT MINE, OK? I JUST WRITE MY OWN SPIN ON SOMETHING ALREADY WRITTEN BECAUSE I'M LIKE THE LITERARY VERSION OF SKRILLEX BUT WITH BETTER HAIR!**

Chapter 7 – Somebody Would Get Hurt

School had ended not too long ago and Arnold now found himself sitting nervously on a park bench in front of the tree in City Park, where he agreed he'd meet someone.

Arnold replayed the events from that morning in his head while he was waiting.

 _Arnold figured that one of the problems with his last crush was that he did not act on it quicker, well that and the fact that Ruth was so shallow and not the sharpest crayon in the box. Because of this, he knew that he probably should tell Lila about his feelings sooner rather than later. Luckily for him Lila's locker was close to their classroom and she just happened to be at her locker the same time Arnold was walking to class._

 _Without giving it a second thought, Arnold walked right up to Lila._

 _"Hey, Lila," Arnold greeted pleasantly, trying really hard to sound as calm as possible._

 _However, Lila did not notice him approaching her so she jumped a bit since his greeting had startled her. His confidence immediately faltered as soon as that happened. It got worse when she met his gaze._

 _"Oh, hello, Arnold. How are you?" She inquired sweetly._

 _Arnold thought his confidence couldn't have been able to plummet anymore. He was wrong._

 _"I'm…fine…uh how are you? Sorry if I startled you," Arnold's reply started out being really dragged out and then suddenly ended in one big rush. It's a wonder that Lila was able to understand him. But remarkably enough she did._

 _"Oh, that's quite alright. And I am ever so certain that I'm doing well as always," She replied with her warm smile naturally set in place._

 _The two then just spent a couple of awkward moments in silence._

 _Of course Lila was curious as to why Arnold had suddenly approached her, especially with everything going on regarding the whole 'Helga situation'. She knew that there was something on his mind and he was having some trouble getting it out in the open. Lila knew that Arnold would get to the point in his own time…but then again, a little push wouldn't hurt, right? Lila was a sweet girl but after all she was only human. Even Lila could get a little impatient from time to time._

 _"Arnold, is there something you wanted to tell me?" Lila asked curiously but innocently enough._

 _Arnold's eyes widened at that a little bit as he nodded slowly. He forgot how perceptive she could be. Secretly, Arnold felt pretty grateful that Lila came to that conclusion on her own without him having to summon up the extra courage needed to get that point himself._

 _"Uh…yes, there is. But not here," Arnold manages to respond to Lila's question._

 _Lila's expression had then changed to one of confusion, which Arnold noticed and realized he needed to elaborate._

 _"Umm…what I mean is…can you meet me somewhere after school to talk?" Arnold finally squeaks out._

 _"Sure, Arnold. How about the bench by the tree in City Park?" Lila responds, smiling. She's happy to oblige Arnold's odd request, honestly unsure about what exactly is on his mind at that point._

 _"Okay, great! Uh…see you then," Arnold gives a shaky smile and briskly walks off to class. That was more nerve-racking than he thought it would be. 'Would I be able to make it through this again when I meet with Lila after school?' he asked himself._

Just as Arnold's review of what brought him to this moment right now wrapped up, Lila had arrived and was walking towards him.

"Hello, Arnold,"

Arnold's gaze followed the voice and found Lila standing in front of him with a warm and friendly gaze.

Arnold smiled shyly in response and returned her greeting. 'She's so nice,' he thought to himself.

Lila took Arnold's greeting as a sign to join him on the bench.

"So, you had something you wanted to tell?" Lila gently prompted as she waited patiently for an answer.

Lila wasn't the only one waiting for an answer from Arnold, but she was definitely the more patient one. Helga G. Pataki was secretly perched on a branch of the tree behind that bench. She too wondered what it was Arnold had to say to Lila but she had horrible feeling that she would not like it one bit.

'It better not be what I think it is or I don't know what I'll do,' Helga thought to herself, slightly panicking at this point.

But wait, why is Helga in a tree? The answer lies in that morning in the hallway.

While Arnold was talking with Lila that morning, just a few feet away was Phoebe trying to break up the one-sided fight, to which Phoebe soon found out that Helga wasn't actually going to hit him and that she was just frozen in shock. The small crowd of students soon realized this fact too and walked away in disappointment, because they hoped to see an actual fight. As the crowd dispersed, Helga could now see Arnold talking to Lila and that snaps her out of it and she cranes her neck to try to hear the conversation and she picks up the location and time of their meeting.

"Uh…Helga?" Brainy's wheezy question snaps her back to what's going on in front of her. She turns her head and realizes that she still has Brainy lifted up by his shirt collar. She finally puts him down and sighs at him. She realizes that she has to say what she intended to say to him quick before Arnold spots her. "Yeah, I should've figured that you knew. Well I probably shouldn't say this now in case this doesn't work out okay but what the heck, you caught me on a good day all things considered. Thanks I guess. But listen," stares down at him, hard, "If you ever try interfering in my personal life again, you won't be so lucky. Got it?"

After school, Helga rushes to the park, finds the bench, climbs the tree, and sits on a branch while waiting for Arnold and Lila to show up. Which brings us back to now where Arnold and Lila are sitting on the bench and talking, or more like Lila is patiently waiting for Arnold to get out what he wants to say.

Arnold finally summons the courage after a few agonizing seconds later, mostly agonizing on Helga's end. He clears his throat timidly right before he began to speak. He had no idea he would be this nervous. He couldn't really look her in the eye either. Weird.

"Well, Lila, I asked you to meet me here because yes, I wanted to tell you something…" he trailed off nervously.

'Why am I dragging this on? Just spit it out!' Arnold thought to himself, mildly annoyed at this point.

'Will he just get on with it already?!' Helga's thoughts unknowingly matched Arnold's as she was starting to get annoyed with him as well.

"And that something is…that I…well…I…" one deep sigh later and…

"I like you, well actually, I like you-like you and I wanted you to know now,"

As soon as he finished, Arnold gathered enough courage to slowly look up at Lila's face. Her sweet and patient expression was slightly fazed and her eyes had widened, but only slightly. To be honest, Lila figured that that was what Arnold had on his mind. The signs were pretty obvious, especially when he was having trouble forming his thoughts into sentences and he couldn't even look her in the eye. So now that Lila knew for sure that Arnold suddenly had feelings for her, what was her next move?

Lila suddenly felt caught in a personal predicament of her own. Thanks to the wall incident, she knew Helga had feelings for Arnold, really strong feelings. She always had a hunch about this anyways but now she knew it was true. Though Helga probably did not agree, Lila considered Helga to be her friend and therefore she did not want to do anything to hurt her. On the other hand, she didn't want to hurt Arnold either, but she figured it was better to let him down now rather than later. If she did that later, it would hurt two people instead of one, and to Lila it would only be like prolonging the inevitable anyways. And besides, Lila had always considered Arnold to be a good friend and nothing more than that. Lila felt happy that he liked her-liked her and in normal circumstances she might've agreed to be his girlfriend just for that reason. But now, Lila had to be honest with herself for Helga's sake and she realized that she really couldn't return Arnold's feelings, slightly because of Helga but mostly due to the simple fact that she probably never could return his feelings. He just wasn't what she was looking for and that was perfectly fine since Arnold was not meant for her and she knew that, even though Arnold clearly did not. 'He may not be taken now,' she thought, 'but he will be. In fact, his fate has already been sealed and that's ever so wonderful! He just doesn't know that yet and if that means that I have to hurt him to help him someday see that, then I guess that is what I have to do.'

While Lila had been figuring out what to do, Arnold was waiting, and not that patiently either. Though his expression seemed pretty reserved, inside he was going nuts with all the suspense. He thought that it had been ages since the two of them had both been silent but in actuality it had barely been a minute. Unbeknownst to Arnold, at least at this point, Helga was feeling the same. Although she was not getting as anxious as Arnold, she was pretty close. She had no idea what was going to happen next and that drove her crazy!

Suddenly, Lila softly clears her throat to signal that she was ready to give Arnold her answer. He looks up at her with a look in his eyes that were clearly a look of hope. Lila didn't let her eyes linger on that look for too long because she knew she would have changed her mind and agreed to be his girlfriend just to keep him happy in that moment. And that would be an action that she knew would have some messy consequences so without giving this a second thought, Lila was determined to get through this without any hesitation.

"Arnold, I am just ever so flattered that you feel that way about me but I am sad to say that I do not feel the same way about you. I only like you as friend. Oh, Arnold, I'm just ever so sorry if this hurts you but I'm afraid it's the truth," Lila finished with a sigh, partly out of sadness and partly out of relief for not caving. She really hated to be kind of mean like that but she was starting to realized that the truth could be like that sometimes but when it needed to be said, especially when it will prevent further hurt in the long run, then that was okay.

On the other end of the bench, Arnold face dropped slightly. He was pretty disappointed but no way was he done yet.

"Are you sure?" Arnold asked and kind of desperately at that.

Lila sighed slowly, though it was more like taking a deep breath in preparation. She was hoping that Arnold would just take her answer without question but figured that that would be too easy. And she knew Arnold well enough to know that he doesn't back down from he wants that easily.

"Yes, Arnold. I am just ever so sure," Lila said while giving him a slow, but a very sure nod.

Not even letting that response completely discourage him, Arnold tries again, a little more desperately this time.

"Well, would you maybe want to…give me a chance? I mean, you never know. Feelings could change," Arnold finishes that with a shrug in his attempt to appear nonchalant but really he his expression was making him appear anything but. This was starting to take a toll on Arnold. He was hoping that the end was near, but more importantly, he hoped that this would end in his favor somehow.

Unfortunately for Arnold, Lila didn't even need to think Arnold's request over. She immediately begins to response with a slow and steady shake of her head.

"No, Arnold. I don't think that would be a good idea," Lila answers honestly.

"Why not?" Arnold asks, still not wanting to quit.

"Well, if I did decide to give you a chance, I think that it won't work no matter what because it's just not meant to be and somebody would get hurt,"

Lila looked at Arnold's face to see that he still had plenty of questions just waiting to escape. Partly out of fear of accidentally blurting Helga's secret, which was what that 'somebody would end up getting hurt' part alluded to, and partly out of her belief that there was nothing left to say and that nothing would change her mind, Lila decided to make her exit.

Before Arnold fires more questions in his last-stitch attempt to make something out of what could never be, Lila says her goodbyes.

"Arnold, I know you have more questions but I think it's time I head home. Again, I am ever so sorry but I am certain that my feelings will not change. You are a good friend but I just cannot see you as anything more than that," Lila pauses briefly to get up from the bench. Turning to face the still-seated Arnold, she continues.

"Oh, Arnold, I know you must be upset right now and you probably don't want to hear this from me but I promise you that you'll find a girl that returns your feelings and by then you won't even remember feeling like this right now. I'm just not that girl but they'll be another. It's going to happen. I promise," Lila assured, trying to make Arnold feel a little better though she had a feeling that her little speech didn't do much to help the situation. There was nothing else she could add though. Arnold just wasn't ready to be faced with such truths just yet and that was fine since he was only nine.

"Well, Arnold, I'll see you tomorrow. Goodbye,"

And with a small smile and a wave, Lila was gone. Arnold is left feeling slightly frozen to that bench as he takes a moment to mull some things over. He's pretty bummed about Lila's response. Also, some of the things Lila said had confused him. Meanwhile, somebody else was feeling rather elated about what just happened.

'She turned him down and didn't change her mind! Yes! It seemed like she was pretty close to giving in but she didn't! I still have a chance! Yay!' Helga's mind was soaring with happy and hopeful thoughts. She was so excited that she was actually bouncing up and down on that tree branch. She was more focused on keeping quiet than keeping still. Sadly, the added force from the bouncing ended up being too much for the branch to withstand. Helga realized what was going on and had stopped bouncing but it was too late. The branch had already begun to break.

'Oh, now you've really done it now, Helga,' she thought as she held on tightly to the branch, the only thing she could do.

From where Arnold sat, his troubled thoughts were interrupted when he started to hear the sound of something breaking, which was soon followed by a loud thud. Whatever it was, it sounded like it was right behind him. Arnold then turned around in the bench. Now on his knees, he peered over the back of the bench to investigate. Arnold was taken aback at what he found: a broken tree branch with Helga G. Pataki laying on top of it with an expression that looked almost as shocked as Arnold's.

 **A/N: That very well could be why the tree branch fell in the episode! I like randomly coming up with explanations to things anyways! The next chapter will be interesting and a small challenge to get through. It's actually mostly done but I have to go back through the original episode for the first part of it. I hope to finish it before I go back to school but I don't know. Those who have liked this story so far I hope that hasn't changed. I also hope you continue to bear with me!**


	8. Back to Normal

**A/N: Ok, long overdue I know! I did not know there were readers still wanting me to update this. My bad! But that's not why I haven't updated in months. The true culprits are writer's block and grad school! Ever since I had a brief break in the spring, I've been working on this chapter on and off whenever I had a free moment, like today! So here it finally is, chapter 8!**

 **But first,**

 **THIS STORY IDEA IS MINE BUT THE "HEY ARNOLD!" CHARACTERS IN THIS STORY AND THE EPISODE THIS STORY IS BASED OFF OF, IS NOT MINE AND I CLAIM NO OWNERSHIP IN WHATSOEVER. THE DIALOGUE IN THE FIRST HALF OF THIS CHAPTER IS FROM THE ORIGINAL EPISODE AND THAT IS ALSO NOT MINE!**

Chapter 8 – Back to Normal

"Helga?" Arnold asked in a combination of shock and annoyance.

"Hey, football head. How's it going?" Helga, who was found lying on top of the tree branch she was sitting on to help her spy on Arnold and Lila before it broke from the tree, causing it to fall and take her down with it. As she gave her response, she held her face with one of her hands and gave Arnold a look that screamed fake innocence.

"What are you doing here?" Arnold asked, sounding kind of annoyed. After all that happened to him that day, running into Helga was probably on that list of the last things he needed. However, he was quite curious about her rather unorthodox entrance.

"Nothing, just climbing trees. Boy, do I love climbing trees! Good healthy exercise," Helga explained while getting up, smoothing out her dress, and patting a tree, faking excitement throughout.

"I guess so," Arnold answered as he started to walk away. He sounded bored with the topic already. He was still feeling pretty down about Lila rejecting him.

"So," Helga began, ignoring Arnold's little brush-off as she ran a little to catch up to him, "I couldn't help overhearing. I guess Lila dumped you?" Helga asked, sounding too eager when posing that question and even looked a little thrilled but luckily Arnold wasn't looking at her facial expressions. He was too busy staring off ahead and thinking about Lila.

"Yeah," Arnold answered rather sadly.

"I guess she dumped you pretty good," Helga added, still sounding too eager and happy about that, but still unbeknownst to Arnold though.

"Yeah," Arnold agreed absentmindedly, still pretty upset.

"Dumped you flat. Hung you out to dry. Doesn't like-you, like-you, just likes you but still wants to be friends," Helga continued. She was getting carried away at this point.

"Mm-hmm," Arnold responded, beginning to feel even more dejected after Helga's words, though he did not even know that was possible but it happened. 'But that's Helga for ya,' he thought to himself glumly. Strange enough, he actually didn't really mind that much, at least not currently since he had other things on his mind. He was just sad in general, but the way she was wording it definitely did not help, that's for sure!

Barely a second after Arnold's response, he suddenly just stopped and sighed. He felt really down. Fortunately, Helga realized the change in Arnold and her expression became more sympathetic.

"You ok, Arnold?" Helga asked with a look of concern in her eyes.

"Yeah…I'm ok," Arnold answered with a bit of hesitation in his voice. Deep down though, he knew that if he wasn't ok then, well he certainly would be eventually so it wasn't a total lie. It just might not be the whole truth, at least not now. Helga put a reassuring hand on Arnold's shoulder while he was still staring off into the distant horizon.

"I guess you really liked her huh?" Helga asked, her demeanor completely changing to one of empathy, a side she rarely showed to others, but Arnold was different.

Instead of answering, Arnold moved away from her touch and started walking forward again. This didn't stop Helga from continuing though.

"Don't worry. You'll bounce back," Helga continued as she crossed her arms and gave a smug, knowing look to go with the statement she was about to add, "There's plenty of other fish in the sea, right?" Helga asked, her way of trying to cheer Arnold up.

"Yeah," Arnold replied absentmindedly while still standing in front of Helga. Suddenly though, he turned around to face her not even a second later before continuing with something on his mind he felt he needed to share, "It's funny. When you like someone and they don't really like you back, it's not so bad. But when you really like-them, like-them and you find out they just likeyou, it hurts. Have you ever felt that way about someone, Helga?" Arnold officially looked into Helga's eyes the moment he ended that question. To Helga, it was like those eyes were boring into her soul and were able to see everything.

"Who, me? Oh no, no of course not! Don't be ridiculous!" Helga answered in a panic, which was putting it lightly! Her eyes bugged out a little bit and she started to act a little hysterical during her answer – pulling at her collar, talking rapidly with a higher pitch, the whole nine yards.

Helga's answer did nothing to cheer Arnold up. Instead, it actually did the opposite because Helga could not relate to him in that moment (or so he thought), to which the reason why Arnold was upset about that was unknown to him. He did not feel like analyzing that too much, at least not now. After all, he was going through a lot already. At any rate, Helga quickly noticed the slight drop in Arnold's mood and that caused her to calm down enough to add something that she hoped he would find comforting.

"But I can understand how you must feel," Helga sympathized. Though she was entering rather unfamiliar territory, Helga was definitely being genuine. And her statement may have sounded a little half-hearted, which she basically did on purpose to hide some things of course, but Helga secretly understood with every fiber of her being! She understood the feeling way more than Arnold did and probably more than anyone else for that matter. She lived it every single day.

"Thanks, Helga," Arnold replied. He knew that Helga's softer side wasn't nonexistent, despite what she had claimed in the past. But it was a side she rarely let others see and therefore he felt honored that she showed a piece of that side to him, even though that was entirely unplanned. And even though comforting somebody wasn't an area of expertise for Helga, he appreciated the fact that Helga attempted to try her hand at it. True, he still felt pretty bad, but he knew that changing that was an impossible task for anybody right now…

With one quick sigh, Arnold decided it was time for a subject change.

"You going home?" Arnold asked Helga.

"Yeah, I guess so," Helga answered with indifference. Outwardly, her body language also expressed indifference, with her arms held out and shrugging her shoulders a bit. Inwardly however, she was just relieved that he changed the subject.

'I'm glad he changed the subject or else I don't know how long I could've continued sounding sympathetic and nice, well without revealing my secret of course. Wait…wow, I'm doing it! I'm actually being nice! And I haven't snapped at him once! Is this a dream? How am I pulling this off! Oh, who cares?! I'm not going to question it now!' Helga thought to herself.

"Could I maybe walk with you?" Arnold asked like it was no big deal, well to him it wasn't, funny enough.

'Actually, that felt so natural to say,' he quickly thought before making a mental note to ponder more on that later.

"Hehe…well, sure Arnold," Helga agreed, barely managing to play it cool, although not until near the end of answer. His offer to walk her home was a pretty big deal but it's not like she wanted him to know that! After slightly shaking her head to force herself to snap out of her little trance at that moment, she sounded more like her 'normal' self than she did when she let her excitement show a little just then.

"Uh, I mean, whatever floats your boat, Football Head," Helga self-corrected, albeit kind of late. Her one saving grace was once again Arnold's denseness, since he did not seem to be aware of her little slip-up or maybe he just didn't care. That time, her little nickname for him was said in a way that sounded less like an insult and more like, well, a nickname.

And as Helga finished answering Arnold's question, the two kids began to leave the park together.

…..

"Umm…Helga? There's something I don't get…" Arnold started to ask after walking with Helga in silence for a minute or so, unsure how to word this question so that'd he get an answer from her. He knew his chances were slim but he had to at least try, right?

"And what's that, Hair Boy?" Helga turned her head to Arnold while still walking with him. She was acting her smug, 'normal' self but inside she was worried that he was going to ask the one question that she didn't want him to ask the most.

"Why were you really in that tree?" Arnold asked directly.

'Dang it. It had to be _that_ question,' Helga thought to herself, internally face-palming herself. That question made her stop dead in her tracks, her eyes bugged out and color started to rise to her cheeks. As soon as Arnold realized that Helga was no longer walking next to him, he stopped and turned around. But it was too late. Helga had her head down so Arnold never saw her blush. Her behavior was pretty suspicious to him, though.

After a quick but deep breath, Helga looked up with an indignant look on her face and her hands on her hips before answering him.

"I was exercising, Arnold-o! Just like I told you, doi!" Helga's answer was rather defensive, which was actually not lost on Arnold that time around.

"Yeah, you said that already but I'm pretty sure that that's not the true reason," Arnold stated somewhat accusingly, definitely not buying her excuse but he was trying to be patient.

"Of course it's the _true reason_ ," Helga argued although she could tell that Arnold wasn't going to let this go anytime soon.

"No, I don't think so. I saw you in the hallway at school this morning when I was at Lila's locker right after she left. I caught you looking at me and when you noticed that, your eyes got wide, like they are right now, and then you stuck your tongue at me and ran away. I didn't think much about it then. But now, I think it's possible you overheard my conversation with Lila about us meeting here. Didn't you?" Arnold asked with narrowing eyes, using a tone that was more accusatory than his last statement.

After processing Arnold's question, Helga was only able to choke out a small gasp, which sounded more like a squeak. Her eyes bugged out even more, which to Arnold did not seem humanly possible, but it was. Helga's reaction was answer enough to Arnold.

"Ok, so you definitely did, but why?" Arnold pressed firmly, his tone was serious and unwavering, and frankly a little frightening to Helga because he was acting so out of character. He could almost get all the answers he wanted out of her, well if she was anybody but Helga that is. Unfortunately, Helga was unlike anyone else and therefore, his tough and confrontational demeanor actually triggered a familiar feeling of being threatened from deep within Helga's subconscious, causing her go-to defense mechanisms to come back in full swing.

"None of your business, bucko!" Helga spat in response. Arnold was pretty much expecting this so he was undeterred by her reaction and continued to confront Helga.

"It doesn't matter if you don't want to tell me. I think I know the answer. After you overheard us, you decided that it would be fun to hide out in that tree and eavesdrop on us so you could get something new to pick on me about because nobody else but you would stoop that low," Arnold countered as he crossed his arms and gave her an unamused look. Maybe he was taking his pain out on Helga a little but he wanted answers and he wanted them now.

Though feeling a little hurt and dejected at Arnold's accusation, it was still not lost on Helga that Arnold was unknowingly giving her an out. She could easily agree and then add some insults related to Lila rejecting his feelings for him. It was very Helga-like after all. However, Helga secretly vowed earlier never to pick on Arnold about that because she knew how bad unrequited love hurts and did not want to make it worse for him. She even promised to occasionally help him with issues pertaining to that, as long as her secret would still be safe of course. But then what other excuse could she give? She definitely could not tell him the truth.

"Well, if that's true, then why am I not picking on you mercilessly, instead of being nothing but civil with you, Arnold? And not only that, but I even listened to you when Lila hurt you. How do you explain all that?" Helga asked with a counter-argument of her own, hoping that that would be enough to throw Arnold off so he would feel guilty and then just drop this matter altogether. Helga tried to be hopeful but she still knew not to hold her breath.

Now that caused Arnold to really think for a moment but before he could respond, Helga decided to just continue but that time she changed things up a bit, and instead decided to sort of claim his theory as 'half-true' because after all, she was not ready to confess to everything just yet. However, she didn't want things between her and Arnold to be like this anymore and even though it took everything she had to fight the urge to yell at him, she truly wanted to be nicer to him, or at least in small-enough doses so her secret wouldn't be blown.

"Ok, ok. You wanna know the truth? I may pick on you about a lot of things, but never about anything that would cause you pain. I mean, I may be a bully, but even I know that touchy subjects like those are off-limits. I'm not a complete monster! I have feelings too ya know and if anyone tried to mess with the complicated parts of me, I'd introduce them to 'Ol Betsy and the Five Avengers in a heartbeat. I'd do that to get them off my back but I'd still be hurt because I'm human, Arnold. I feel things too. Yes, I was originally in that tree to try to find some new insult material but after Lila left my plan changed. Again, I would never use this against you so I decided to sit quietly and wait for you to leave then just go home and never bring up what I witnessed to anybody. But as you know that stupid tree branch had other plans and now here we are!" Helga announced at the end of her semi-confession.

Helga decided to come clean but only half-way along with adding a lie but she knew that if she acted like she was coming clean but still denying Arnold's assumption, it'd be the best way to get out of this horrible confrontation without Arnold hating her any more than he already did, hopefully. Luckily, Arnold seemed to have bought Helga's answer and then looked like he felt a little bad.

"And I really appreciate that," Arnold gave a small smile in gratitude and then his expression changed to one of guilt before he continued, "Helga, I'm sorry. I accused you for being up to one of your tricks when you were just trying to help," Arnold apologized sincerely. He felt awful about jumping to conclusions like that. This was just not his day, that was for sure. Helga however, didn't seem to mind the way Arnold just treated her. In fact, she acted dismissive about the whole thing, shrugging it off like it was nothing. This surprised Arnold. He figured she would start yelling and then just stomp off and walk the rest of the way on her own. In fact, he was expecting that, but that didn't happen.

"Forget it. It's not like I don't deserve it. I mean, I'm not the nicest person in the world and I definitely don't make things easy for you at times," Helga resolved on her own. As soon as she said that though, she realized that she had just opened a new but related can of worms just by judging Arnold's expression alone. Helga had a feeling that her response prompted Arnold to want to ask her a certain question about her bullying persona, something along the lines of 'but why do you treat me like that?'. No matter how he would word that question, Helga knew that she would never be able to answer it, or at least answer it when being forced to and not through her own terms. Therefore, Helga decided to answer, or at least partly answer in her own way, before Arnold even had the chance to ask. After all, someone went to a lot of trouble for her to be happy, so shouldn't she at least reveal a little of her true self, especially before it's all too late? Helga then tried to summon enough courage, as she gave a deep sigh and continued.

"Okay listen, Arnold because I'm only going to say this once. You may not feel the same but I consider you to be my friend. I may not act like it but I do. That's just how I treat people. Just don't tell anyone I said that. I'll deny it anyways. Just promise me that the next time I insult you to not feel so bad about it. Don't let it ruin your day. You have your ways of getting through life and I have mine," Helga stated, taking advantage of that moment to clear a few things up. She was careful when choosing her words, though. She wanted to clarify some things but didn't want to give too much away, at least not yet. She simply wasn't ready to reveal everything but figured that just a small piece of herself would be enough for now.

As soon as Helga finished speaking, she looked around and realized that they had reached her house. Arnold was a little too shocked by Helga's mini-confession to notice. After all, she had left him with a lot to think about. As he was trying to sort some things out in his mind, Helga seized that moment as the perfect chance to make her escape. She attempted to dart into her house but then Arnold snapped out of his little reverie just in time to put a hand on Helga's shoulder to stop her.

Helga turned around in surprise and hidden dread. She just wished that she could somehow get out of this, since she was scared of going to back to 'bully Helga' any minute, which she felt the possibility to be highly likely. And besides, this turn of events made her feel inspired so she had a lot of writing to do!

Instead of yelling at Arnold like she normally would do, Helga did her best to restrain herself. She just stood there and looked into eyes as she waited for him to say what was on his mind. Her decision backfired a little though as she got sucked in deeper and deeper into Arnold's gaze. If she wasn't careful, she would dissolve into a puddle right in front of him. The fact that Arnold was looking at her like a confused, lost puppy wasn't helping matters either.

On Arnold's end, he was staring rather intently into Helga's eyes as well, really taking the time to figure out the hidden message within them because he knew that could be a weak area of his. Instead of a confused, lost puppy though, her eyes were expressing an emotion he rarely saw from her: fear. This shocked him tremendously.

'What could she be afraid of? Is it me? But how could she be afraid of me?' Arnold pondered, completely perplexed about what Helga could be afraid of in that moment.

He wanted to question her about it but that was when he remembered what Helga said earlier about why she wasn't going to tease him about Lila, to which Arnold realized that whatever Helga was feeling, whatever she was afraid of, it was possibly one of Helga's touchy subjects. It was also in that moment that Arnold could see a glimmer of something else in her eyes: hope. Arnold decided that he didn't need to know everything right now. But then again, he stopped her from going into her house. She was waiting for a response from him so he had to say something. Arnold racked his brain for a good alternative response.

"I promise," Arnold answered simply with a small smile.

"Good, thanks," Helga mumbled in a half-frozen state. The time it took Arnold to say those two little words seemed like forever. And she wasn't expecting a reply like that either. She was sure he was close to drilling her with the third degree, but he didn't. She couldn't figure out what was going on but all the day's events were suddenly taking a toll on her. She needed to be in the safety of her own room so she could finally let the 'Arnold floodgates' loose. She tried to turn around to go into her house but realized that a certain someone still had a hold of her shoulder. She looked towards that shoulder, as if she was sending a secret message to Arnold, which he got. But just as he was able to relax his grip and let go of her, he realized there was one last thing he wanted to say to her first. Helga's gaze returned to Arnold's eyes with anticipation.

Arnold was kind of torn. He knew Helga was uncomfortable and though he'd like to stay to try to figure her out some more, he understood that she had already given him all she was willing to for one day, well that's what he hoped for at least. He hoped that she would confide in him a little more later on but he didn't know how that was going to happen. He got kind of lucky this time and he didn't want to push her. He wanted her to trust him, just so she had at least one other person she felt she could trust. Her fearful expression was speaking volumes to him. Because of his caring and given nature, he wanted to be there for her.

He was honestly concerned for her and now that he knew that she probably didn't hate him, he realized that she must be going through some stuff that's causing her to lash out at others. He just wanted to help but he understood that that might be reserved for a later time. She'd also have to accept his help too, so he decided to leave well enough alone, for now. And yet, he knew he had to say something to show her that he didn't want things between them to go completely back to normal. He wanted things to change, at least a little bit, as much as she was willing to let go.

"Helga, I know you probably want to act like nothing happened. But I don't want that and I don't think I can do that. You already told me so much. But, I'm going to respect your wishes so I won't push. Before I go though, I want you to know that I never hated you either and I think you're a good friend. You just show it differently than others. If you need anybody, even if that's just to talk, please know that you can come to me and I promise I won't tell anyone. Please don't forget I'm your friend and I'm there for you, ok?" Arnold finished, half-pleading as his kind, green eyes were boring into Helga's soul.

Helga felt rather trapped, but she didn't seem to mind this kind of trap, though. Nonetheless, she knew she had to say something she knew he would like so he would leave because her expression was very close to becoming one of lovesickness. However, the words weren't finding their way to her mouth so she could only give a small but serious-looking nod in response. Arnold figured that was good enough, at least for now.

"I'll see you later, right?" Arnold asked, smiling. This question sounded normal enough but it had a hidden meaning behind it, a meaning that was not lost on Helga because she was shocked by this line of questioning. For some reason or another, he now wanted the two of them to be friends so she knew he would not leave until he believed in the possibility of that happening. It's not like she was lying. She wanted them to be friends but she wasn't sure how soon she wanted things to change, though it wasn't going to be a big change it still felt like that to her.

'One day at a time, I guess,' Helga thought to herself.

"Yeah, see you around, Football Head," Helga answered, deciding to add her famous nickname for him for good measure. This was the second time that day that she used it as an actual nickname instead of an insult. He gave a light chuckle and shook his head in amusement and walked off. Helga watched Arnold as he got smaller and smaller.

She didn't have a chance to process everything that had just transpired though when suddenly someone emerged from beside her front steps and freaked her out with their breathing. Helga didn't even have to turn around to know who was creeping up behind her.

"Just say your peace before I sock you, Brainy," Helga warned, her tone telling him that she was definitely in no mood for any more surprises.

"I knew you would be at the park so I waited here until you came back. Just wanted to see what would happen and am glad that things are almost back to normal," Brainy wheezed out.

And with that, Helga suddenly formed her hands into fists, ready to sock Brainy.

 **A/N: I realized that I kind of have a thing for Arnold standing up for himself and confronting Helga a little bit. Of course, if you have read "Breaking Point", that's totally obvious. If you haven't, feel free to check that out if you want. It's not related to this story but if you've been following this, it could be something to pass the time a little while I work on the next update. And speaking of updates, my plan is to finish this story in the next few weeks. We'll see if I actually stick to that or not! But that goal seems realistic enough. After all, there's only 2 chapters left!**


	9. I Blame You for Everything

**A/N: Here it is, the next to last chapter!**

 **I rarely do recaps but I figured I should this time around based on the way I ended the last chapter so I'll start the recap with that…**

 **Previously in "The Wall Knows All", Arnold left after walking Helga home and basically making it pretty clear that he wanted the 2 of them to be friends. Helga sort of agreed in a way just so he would leave therefore giving her a chance to think things through a bit. But before she had the chance to contemplate anything however, Brainy came out from basically nowhere, which is like a hidden talent of his, and told Helga he was happy things looked like they were almost back to normal. Though it was innocent enough, that statement hit a nerve in Helga, so much so that the chapter ended with her getting ready to sock him.**

 **And that brings us to now! Does Helga sock Brainy? Will Helga agree to be friends (even just sort-of-friends) with Arnold or will she go back to her old ways? There's only one way to find all that out!**

 **But first…EVERYTHING TO DO WITH "HEY ARNOLD!" IS NOT MINE AT ALL! JUST THE STORY IDEA IS BUT IT'S BASED ON A PARTICULAR EPISODE AND CHARACTERS THAT I ABSOLUTELY DO NOT OWN!**

Chapter 9 – I Blame You for Everything

Though Brainy was trying to say that he felt good that he didn't cause much emotional damage with his little stunt, which Helga knew that, she still wanted to sock him for all the trouble he still put her through.

She really really wanted to hit him but decided against it. She felt like giving him a piece of her mind would leave more of an impact on him than just hitting him. He was a little too used to that after all!

'And besides, he would probably like that a little too much…poor twisted little freak,' Helga thought to herself in slight amusement before returning her mind to the task at hand.

Helga turned around to face him, about to let him have it. But right before she gave him the tongue lashing she felt he very much deserved, she made one quick glance to be sure that Arnold was way out of earshot, which she was sure he was but she didn't want to risk it.

'Because I can't be too careful and I just learned that the hard way!' Helga thought. As soon as she knew the coast was clear, she began to basically rant Brainy into shape!

"Normal?! How is any of this considered to be back to normal?! Things couldn't be any crazier now and it's your entire fault! Rhonda's not going to stop until she tells the whole freakin' school my secret. Somehow Arnold has developed feelings for Lila when it was just yesterday that he said he only liked her. Come to think of it, that probably happened while Lila was confronting me, though I don't know what was going on in his football-headed mind but I did notice him looking at Lila and I this morning with a special amount of interest. But it doesn't matter how it happened. All that matters is that everything's different, but it's kind of not? Basically, it's all a confusing mess. And to top it all off, I for some reason or another, I felt compelled to open up to Arnold a little and now he knows I don't hate him and he's eventually going to want more information. And even though I'm not sure how, I felt like I had to do that because of all that's happened, because of what you did, so I blame you for this. I blame you for everything!" Helga exclaimed out of anger, even throwing her hands up in the air and then placed them on either side of her head for dramatic effect.

When it appeared that Helga was finished, Brainy cleared his throat a little in preparation for his reply.

"He won't pressure you though…because knows that's a touchy subject," he said, trying to be reassuring.

"That doesn't mean that he won't stop trying to get through. He's stubborn like that and we both know it. He's too nice and caring to ignore someone who's 'hurting' like he thinks I am," Helga argued, her blustery exterior and tough demeanor had already begun to chip away, well only slightly but the process had begun nonetheless.

"But…you are…" Brainy mustered. Helga growled in response.

"Hey! That's none of your business and you're on thin ice so watch it, bucko!" Helga threatened as she forcefully jabbed his nose with her index finger for effect.

Brainy nodded in slight fear but he was used to this sort of thing by now. This response caused Helga to soften a little more though because she knew where he was coming from. Her reaction was basically just a reflex anyways.

"Alright, listen, I now understand why you did that and I know you didn't mean for it to get so out of hand. Luckily it could've turned out a lot worse so that's why you're 'forgiven' I guess but look, you plan anything like that again and you won't be so lucky, got it?" Helga warned and then asked for Brainy's understanding, to which his response was a simple nod.

"I hope you learned something from this," Helga stated rather seriously but still in a way that was a little sarcastic as well.

"I have….I found out that I was right….You two can be friends," Brainy stated, slowly but honestly.

"What?! That's what you learned? That's what this whole crazy mess was all about?! To get us to become friends! Seriously?" Helga exclaimed out of pure shock. That was clearly not the answer she was expecting.

"Well…in a way…yes….More like to get the ball rolling…Friendship is the first step," Brainy wheezed out in explanation. Helga's eyes bugged out a bit in reaction to that.

'That sly dog. I should have known,' Helga thought to herself kind of smugly. Truth be told, she didn't know whether to hug him or smack him and that uncertainty scared her immensely.

"I hoped you learned something too…Hope you'll give this a chance…give yourself a chance," Brainy clarified in between noisy breaths as he looked into Helga's eyes and gave her a simple but very genuine smile. Helga stood there for a moment and just blinked a few times at that. But then she very quickly got her thoughts in order once again with a very brisk shake of her head.

"You are a piece of work! Ok, ok…sheesh! I can't believe I'm saying this but you're right. After all that has happened, all thanks to you by the way, no, things can't really go back to normal but I guess that's a good thing. Well, it's not like things have changed completely but it would be insane to try to go back to the way things were before all this, especially after what Arnold said about wanting to be friends and that he's there for me! Wow! Of course, it's going to be very hard to get myself out of old habits, but so long as it's just a little bit here and there maybe, then I owe it to him to let my guard down at least a little. I of course owe it to myself, to give myself that chance like you said," Helga stated resolutely, more so for herself than for Brainy. But she was still aware of his presence, which actually reminded her of somebody else she owed that opportunity to.

"And you know something? I also owe it to you to change my ways a little bit because after all, I blamed you for everything, right?" Helga's tone was the furthest from angry as she made a reference to an earlier statement from when she was consumed in a white-hot rage. Her question was more rhetorical than anything else but it's not like Brainy had the chance to even answer anyways because before he could think about what she said, he felt himself being pulled into a quick hug.

"Oh and just so we're clear," Helga added as she broke up the embrace, "if you ever try something like that again, let's just say that even your children's children will still be paying for your dumb mistake, got it?" Helga snapped, her tone going back to threatening-like once again.

"Noted," Brainy promised with a light chuckle, though his tone was still rather serious. His expression instantly changed to one of amusement when he had just remembered something.

"Oh…by the way…you won't have to worry about Rhonda…" Brainy said almost out of random, while trying to hide more chuckles. This sparked Helga's interest immediately.

"Oh? And why is that, geek bait?" Helga asked curiously, humoring Brainy, with 'geek bait' being more of a nickname than an insult.

"Well…she's a too preoccupied now…apparently her obsession…with your secret…caused Curly...to become...obsessed with her…" Brainy explained rather breathily, a wide grin plastered on his face.

"Whoa, seriously? Wow, I almost feel sorry for the princess, but I really don't," Helga replied with a rather devilish grin.

"Yeah, I don't either," Brainy agreed with another laugh. He was pleasantly surprised when Helga started laughing with him for a bit.

"Well…I better go…bye Helga…don't forget about what I said…about giving yourself a chance…" Brainy stated once all the laughter between them had subsided.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever," Helga rolled her eyes and waved her hand in a dismissive motion while she also had a small, secret smile on her face.

And just like that, Brainy smiled broadly as he waved good-bye and then left.

After returning his wave, Helga watched Brainy walk away. She then slowly shook her head at everything that had happened in just two days' time.

'Criminy, what a crazy couple of days! Well, there are three things I now know for certain, or I at least kind of know: I'm actually a little glad this happened, I guess I technically now have two guy friends thanks to all this, and I'm going to try to make the most of this – this 'first step' as Brainy put it. And now…time to pour out my heart and soul in poetic verse. At least not everything has to change!" Helga thought to herself almost happily as she walked up the front steps and entered her house.

 **A/N: I know this was really short! Honestly, it was going to be shorter but I attempted to drag it out a little bit. I could only do so much! This wasn't meant to be a long chapter anyways. The next one will be a bit longer. I've already got most of it worked out! Then that will be the end of this story! Oh my goodness!**

 **I can't reveal too much but I think you all will really like the final chapter, which will probably take me at least a week or two to finish! I don't have much free time anymore right now!**


	10. Oh Criminy, Not Again!

**A/N: I am so proud of myself for meeting my own deadline! The odds were very likely but still it's a victory. I'm great at keeping promises, just not so much the ones I make to myself. Weird, huh? But the fact that I had you awesome readers to hold me accountable was probably a big reason why I met my deadline. So thanks, peoples! :D**

 **Anyways, here it is, the last chapter, which is actually more of an epilogue than anything else. This is for all you readers who are sad to see this fic go and are expecting an amazing ending! Hope this doesn't disappoint!**

 **But before you read on…**

 **ALL THINGS "HEY ARNOLD!" DO NOT BELONG TO ME. THE ONLY THING I HAVE TO MY NAME THAT ORIGINATED IN MY CRAZY AND DELUSIONAL MIND IS THIS STORY IDEA, ALONG WITH SEVERAL OTHERS I HAVE OR WILL HAVE IN THE FUTURE. BUT THE IDEA IS NOT EVEN REALLY MINE TO BEGIN WITH, SINCE IT'S BASED LOOSELY OFF OF AN EPISODE THAT ALREADY HAPPENED! THEREFORE, I TECHNICALLY OWN NOTHING. SADNESS.**

Chapter 10 – Oh Criminy, Not Again!

Epilogue

~8 years later~

It was early fall, the beginning of the school year. Seventeen-year-old Helga was walking home from school, alone. She was in a particularly foul mood that day for whatever reason. She figured it had something to do with going through yet another day without Arnold. She tried to get over him but realized that that was pretty much a lost cause. She was kicking pebbles while grumbling phrases like 'stupid football head running off to live in the stupid jungle for the past six years'. She continued on her little rant until she passed an alleyway, in which something written in chalk on a wall caught her eye. It was several feet away so she couldn't fully make out the words from where she stood, but she could easily recognize the white chalk heart. Piqued with curiosity, Helga walked towards that wall to get a better look. Once she was right in front of it, Helga immediately recognized the names that filled the chalk heart and she was instantly filled with dread.

"Oh criminy, not again!" Helga groaned out of exasperation and annoyance, as she slapped her palm against her forehead.

But then Helga really took the time to read the chalk message and she noticed that something was different about it, or in this case more similar. She realized that the two names that she originally wrote on the wall during that crazy week back in the fourth grade were there and in the correct order.

'This is some serious déjà vu, like when I first wrote the message before everything erupted into complete chaos,' Helga thought to herself with a combination of confusion, dread, and a hint of interest. Yes, the chalk heart she was now looking at read 'Arnold Loves Helga' as clear as day.

Suddenly, Helga could tell she was being watched. It was the 'writer', who was staring intently at her.

'If it's Brainy again, I swear I will-' Helga started her thought as she was preparing to turn around to see who was watching her from the shadows. But she never got to finish that thought because it was then that the mystery person came up to her from behind and enveloped her in a warm hug. This of course freaked Helga out so she grabbed ahold of one of their arms, pulled it outward, and used that arm to flip the person over so that they were now lying flat on the ground.

"I think I now know why you kept warning me to stop sneaking up behind you. I guess I should've listened," a familiar voice groaned jokingly. Helga's eyes widened upon realizing who the voice belonged to.

"Arnold?! What…? Who-? Why-?" Helga was still stunned, so much that she was struggling to form a complete sentence. She had no clue what he was doing back, although part of the reason seemed like it was to see her. Actually, that was pretty obvious. Still, she wanted to be sure so there was now one big question that was swirling all around in her mind, even though the answer seemed pretty clear. After all, Arnold was the dense one, not her!

'Who told him?! Wait…I know who! Ohh…I'm really going to get him now…well, depending on how this works out of course!' Helga thought, a plan beginning to form in her head.

"Hello to you too, Helga!" Arnold greeted rather cheerfully with a goofy grin spread across his face. There was a strange casualness to his voice as if lying flat on his back from being abruptly flipped over by his old childhood bully was a normal occurrence.

"Football Head! You're back!?" Helga was flabbergasted and was only half aware of her surroundings and actions. She only partially remembered helping Arnold up. That's how out of it she suddenly was. And there she was, face to face with the very person responsible for that, who was suddenly giving her a knowing smile.

"Nice to see you again too, Helga!" Arnold replied with a chuckle, his eyes were hooded and he was grinning goofily. His expression made Helga freak out a little more but in a different way. She knew that look but she just couldn't believe he was doing that around her, possibly because of her.

Meanwhile, Arnold couldn't believe it was possible for Helga to become even more beautiful but it happened. He was already really biased to begin with though. Her personality seemed generally the same, although maybe toned down a little bit. The most obvious changes were exterior ones. Sadly, she was still taller than him but only by a few inches. She abandoned her pink jumper dress and instead wore a plain pink T-shirt, holey jeans, a pair of worn-in pink sneakers, and lastly she still had her pink ribbon but this time she wore it as a headband with the ends tied into a bow that was tilted to one side of her head. Her blonde hair was so long that it almost reached past her back and instead of the pigtails, she wore her hair half up that day. To Arnold, the biggest change was probably her unibrow, or more accurately the lack thereof since there were now two eyebrows instead of one. Arnold was also a little surprised to see Helga wearing makeup, even if it was just eyeliner, which was probably to make her look tougher.

'As if she needed help in that department,' Arnold thought jokingly as he remembered how she flipped him not too long ago. All in all, he thought that she really blossomed over the years.

'Beauty, brains, and definitely full of brawns. She's definitely the total package,' Arnold thought with a dreamy look threatening to appear on his face.

"Oh, knock it off, will ya? Ok, ok, you got me. Ha ha, good one. Now onto more important matters, like what are you doing back? Did you get kicked out of the jungle or something?" Helga asked in mock accusation, her voice snapping Arnold back into reality. Luckily, Arnold didn't notice that Helga's voice was a little shaky at first or that she basically brought the focus back on him just to change the subject. Arnold was also lucky since Helga was preoccupied with her own thoughts and as a result she wasn't aware of Arnold practically marveling at her beauty. Arnold wasn't the only one to notice changes though.

'He still knows how to push my buttons. And how is it possible for him to get even more handsome?!' Helga thought as she internally gushed over the view that was right in front of her. Arnold looked about the same as he did the last time they were face to face as sixth graders. However, he was like a taller and older-looking version of that sixth-grade kid, if that made any sense at all. It didn't seem like he changed a bit personality-wise. Like Helga, his apparel was one of the major changes, although the changes were subtler in Arnold's case: plain teal T-shirt instead of his sweater, one of his red plaid shirts that was once constantly mistaken for a kilt/skirt thing was worn over the T-shirt and was completely unbuttoned, a pair of worn-in red sneakers, and khaki cargo shorts instead of jeans. Honestly, Helga thought his outfit resembled a lot like what he wore when the entire class was in the jungle. She cringed a little after making that connection because she realized she almost sounded like Rhonda just then! Shaking her head out of that thought, Helga continued with her observations. She noticed a few other changes that included the fact that Arnold looked tanner and slightly more muscular, both of which were causing Helga to internally swoon a bit.

"Haha, nope. Well, I want to go to college in the states so my parents figured it would be a good idea for me to come back in time to finish my last year of high school here first," Arnold replied simply with a small, secret smile on his face.

'And the other reason is because of you,' Arnold thought to himself smugly.

"Wow, so your parents sent you back just like that? By yourself?" Helga asked incredulously.

"Actually, my parents felt that we restored things in the village well enough for us all to leave now so my parents are back too," Arnold explained.

"Whoa, that's really great! Took you all long enough!" Helga exclaimed half-teasingly with a small smirk on her face, as she casually shifted all her weight to one side and crossed her arms.

"Haha, true but I guess my parents wanted to be completely sure before leaving again," Arnold replied with a small nod. He then used one hand to rub the back of his head sheepishly. Being so close to Helga again made all those nervous feelings return, to which Arnold had previously pushed them down just so he could do that little stunt with the chalk.

Meanwhile, Helga was mesmerized with the fact that they haven't spoken to each other in about six years and yet they could still keep up this kind of exchange like they just saw each other yesterday. It was true that they wrote letters to each other but it was not the same.

Actually, Helga stopped writing Arnold about two years ago. That was what prompted Arnold to try to figure out why she stopped writing and then later he was trying to determine why he cared so much. Then it hit him. The answer that had been right in front of him for years and yet he didn't do a thing about it. Until now.

"Yeah that makes sense…" Helga replied as she trailed off. Something was obviously on her mind and Arnold was just patiently waiting until she felt like telling him, which he knew she would soon enough.

"Ok, so what was that all about?" Helga asked after finally summoning the courage and the right words.

"Do you mean my entrance or the wall?" Arnold answered, slightly confused with what she was specifically referring to.

"Both, but one thing at a time. Let's start with the entrance. That was a pretty daring thing you did, like you forgot just who you were dealing with. Guess all those years in the jungle made you forget," Helga joked with a smirk. Despite her attempts to hide it, Helga's tone sounded a little nervous.

"Like I could forget," Arnold muttered sarcastically.

"What was that, Football Head?" Helga asked, feigning confusion but in a mocking sort of way. Her tone made it evident that she heard that little remark.

"Nothing," Arnold denied, faking innocence and chuckling softly before continuing, "But about the entrance, well I figured that along with the wall, it was the very thing to get your attention," Arnold replied honestly, his gaze was steady as he looked into Helga's blue eyes knowingly.

'I could get lost in those beautiful blue eyes. Actually, I think it's too late for me,' Arnold thought.

Helga gulped a little in reaction to Arnold's response.

"And the wall?" Helga asked rather timidly.

"Well, I heard about a young girl writing that on a wall because she hoped in her heart that that would be true one day. So here I am, eight years later to prove to that girl that that 'one day' is today," Arnold said rather matter-of-factly with half-lidded eyes as he got closer to bridge the gap between them. However, there was something in Helga's neutral expression that made Arnold stop for a second.

"Unless, I'm too late?" Arnold asked quietly. He didn't want to think of the possibility of that but he figured that that could've happened, especially since it took him quite a while to sort out his feelings and not to mention that he had to spend that time being thousands of miles away from Helga. He already knew from a very reputable source that Helga had a few brief relationships here and there. That apparently started the same time she stopped writing, which was a year or two after their almost relationship never really developed since Arnold was staying in San Lorenzo at the time and the timing just wasn't right because he was still unsure about his feelings. But the most recent relationship ended about a year ago, or so he thought. It was possible that there was now someone else. Someone new.

Arnold did not have to spend too long mulling over that possibility though, since Helga finally responded with a small shake of her head a few seconds later.

"Then, what's wrong?" Arnold asked with emerging concern.

"So this is not a dream?" Helga asked quietly, her voice trembling slightly. Arnold blinked in response. He didn't expect that but looking back, he probably should've. Helga was so untrusting that he should've seen an answer like that coming.

'Classic Helga,' Arnold thought as he silently promised himself he was going to do everything he could to resolve those trust issues once and for all.

Out of happiness for there not being another guy Arnold had to worry about, he began to chuckle softly. It was Helga's turn to blink in response. Unlike Arnold though, her blinking was immediately followed by Helga going into a bit of a rage.

"Oh, this is just one big joke to you, huh? You know, you got some nerve to do this after all these years and I-mmm!" Helga's annoyed rant was interrupted in the sweetest way possible, by none other than Arnold's lips. The kiss itself was brief but very passionate, just enough to make its intended message loud and clear to Helga. Helga was grateful that Arnold still knew just how to silence her silly insecurities, but this time he was actually trying to. Helga wasn't finished with him though. After all, she had a message of her very own that she wanted to give him.

"Is that answer enough?" Arnold smirked as he asked rather jokingly. Helga's silence and rather pensive expression started to concern him though. Unbeknownst to Arnold, Helga was just planning out in her head the best way to make her next move.

'Should I say something? Do I need to say something? Aw, forget it! I've waited this long. I'm just gonna go for it!' Helga decided, her mind firmly made up.

"Helga? Are you-mmm!" Now it was Arnold's turn to be interrupted, sweetly interrupted that is. His eyes bulged a bit in response, at least in the beginning. When he realized not even a second later that Helga grabbed his cheeks and pulled him to her so she could stop him mid-sentence with her lips, his eyes immediately closed as he moaned softly into the kiss. His arms began to wrap around her and he pulled her in closer. It was Helga who then gave a soft moan of her own as she pulled him even closer to her by clutching his upper back tightly. A few seconds later, Helga removed one of the hands on Arnold's back to hold the back of his head. She could hear Arnold taking a deep breath through his nose as she moved that hand through his hair while simultaneously massaging his scalp.

Helga could've let this gone on forever and she very much wanted to but they were in public for goodness sakes, although they were actually in a pretty secluded part of the neighborhood. Upon realization of this, Helga made a silent reminder to herself to thank Arnold later for choosing this location.

Despite the fact that the two teens were definitely alone and were probably not in any danger of somebody coming around here anytime soon, Helga still needed some answers to a few things. She was certain she knew the answers already but she needed confirmation from Arnold first. And so, a very reluctant Helga began to pull back so she could ask the one question that was weighing pretty heavily on her mind.

"Brainy told ya, didn't he?" Helga asked up front, not wasting any time at all. She stepped back a little but her arms were still around Arnold. Helga was definitely aware that Arnold didn't seem to be in any hurry to let go either.

"Huh? Uh…oh, yeah. He did," Arnold replied with a small sheepish smile. He felt slightly embarrassed that he was lost in some sort of daze and that Helga noticed it. Luckily, the moment was very brief and he was able to snap himself out of it on his own. However, no matter how brief it lasted, Arnold knew that Helga was probably not going to let him forget it!

'Looks like I already have an effect on him,' Helga thought with a silent chuckle, 'I'll bug him about it later though. I got other things to attend to first,' Helga reasoned in her head.

"When?" Helga asked quietly but with determination in her voice.

"About a year ago, when you two were a couple for five seconds. Somehow he figured out my feelings before I did and he felt guilty that it was him and not me that you were seeing at the time. And so, one day he told me the full story of that time in the fourth grade," Arnold paused to motion his head towards the chalk heart as a reference, as if Helga didn't know what he was referring to anyways, "And all I knew from that time was that Lila was randomly rather forceful with you and that caused me to crush on her, she let me down gently, and then you fell out of a tree, tried to make me feel better about Lila not returning my feelings, and then agreed to be my friend. Apparently there was more to the story than that," Arnold explained honestly but rather smugly, his gaze never leaving Helga's. Helga could've sworn she detected a hint of jealousy in Arnold's voice when he mentioned the fact that she and Brainy briefly dated. Naturally, this made Helga a bit giddy, which she was doing her best to keep such feelings under wraps. It was true that she and Arnold were basically dating now but all these feelings were very new and foreign to Helga after all. As a result of her trying to suppress those emotions, the only response she was able to give while maintaining her composure was just a small nod.

After a few brief seconds of silence, a new thought popped into Arnold's head, which caused him to grin rather smugly yet again.

"You know, if it wasn't for Brainy, I might not have developed a crush on Lila when we were in the fourth grade," Arnold added with a knowing smirk.

"Ugh…don't remind me!" Helga exclaimed and groaned with a tone that was more sarcastic than harsh. Helga shook her head a little though as a new thought occurred to her, which caused her to change her expression to one that was more rational before continuing.

"But still, it's not like we can actually know if anything would've changed if things turned out differently. If Brainy didn't intervene, maybe you still would've had a crush on Lila but it would've happened a little later and for some other reason. But if something like that happened instead, I doubt that we would be where we are now. Maybe we would have but there's no way to know that for sure. So I am actually kind of glad Brainy did what he did, because that was just the push I needed to allow us to become friends…and now here we are!" Helga added, both her tone and expression were generally pretty firm and sincere. She couldn't believe how much she was giving away to Arnold already. It was freeing to finally feel comfortable enough to be so open and honest with him but Helga definitely did not want to reveal everything all at once. All in due time.

'But that's all he's getting for now,' Helga thought rather stubbornly.

Helga's answer caused Arnold to blink a bit. She hadn't been this honest with him in a few years and he had to admit that he really missed it. He always felt honored when she would trust him enough to let him in on some of her true feelings and opinions that she believed she had to keep hidden from the entire world. The words themselves that Helga just spoke also gave Arnold other things to think about. Now that he knew the whole story of what happened in those couple of days back in the fourth grade, Arnold could see that Brainy's bold actions probably were the driving force behind Helga being more open to Arnold's attempts to be friends with her. In fact, her demeanor around him had begun to change, in which those changes were only considered to be monumental if the way she treated him in the days before the incident was compared to how she acted around him just a few days later. Little by little, Helga's walls were crumbling and she began accepting Arnold's help every now and then, like helping her carry groceries to her house. She even vented to him occasionally while he mainly just listened. For Arnold, fighting the urge to give advice was no easy feat but he resisted, since he knew that Helga would not respond so well to that because she was not opening up so he could try to fix everything. And so he held his tongue and only offered his opinion on bigger-scale matters or when she actually asked for it. Helga still kept up her 'I hate Arnold' routine when they were around their classmates but when it was just them, she showed more and more of her true self. In a short while, Helga and Arnold went from being frenemies to acquaintances to friends. The friendship continued for the first half of those six years Arnold spent living in San Lorenzo. Of course, there was a brief period of awkwardness that followed that random kiss in the jungle, which didn't really have the chance to develop into anything anyways so the two pre-teens just pretended it didn't happen.

"Yeah, I guess so. I didn't think about it like that but it makes sense. I guess we should be thanking Brainy," Arnold stated both jokingly and seriously. The summary of all those memories he had playing in his mind like a movie reel had just ended.

"Go right ahead, Football Head. I technically already did. The way I see it, the fact that I haven't punched him in about two years and then later agreed to go out with him last year could both be considered an implied thanks," Helga reasoned with a small smirk and a shrug. Arnold chuckled at Helga's answer and slowly shook his head, a knowing smile forming on his face.

'Yeah, I guess that's the 'Helga G. Pataki version' of showing gratitude,' Arnold thought with another chuckle. 'And I don't expect or want anything else,' he added to himself, a goofy smile threatening to reveal itself yet again.

"Ya wanna fill me in on the joke, Football Head?" Helga asked after hearing Arnold laugh. Her question was far more curious-sounding than it was aggressive like it would have been years ago when the two of them were children.

"It's nothing really," Arnold shrugged and smiled before continuing, "I just almost forgot about how feisty and passionate you are. I missed it and I missed you," Arnold concluded his explanation as he slowly tightened his hold on Helga, resulting in the gap between them to get smaller and smaller. He then proceeded to lean his head into the crook of Helga's neck, which was followed by him sighing softly. Helga's breathing hitched in reaction. That quickly returned to normal though once everything sunk in.

"I missed you too, you sappy Football Head," Helga sighed sweetly in response as she tightened her own hold on Arnold with one hand and massaged Arnold's scalp with the other.

They stayed like that for several seconds. That was when something entirely unrelated to their previous conversations had just randomly entered Helga's head.

"Hey, have you seen any of the gang yet?" Helga asked curiously as she leaned back so she could look at Arnold.

"Nope. I wanted to make sure I saw you first," Arnold answered honestly. His eyes were hooded and his mouth was formed into a knowing smirk.

"Good boy," Helga praised jokingly while giving his head a little pat for good measure. Arnold chuckled and smiled warmly in response.

"They'd probably never forgive me if I kept you all to myself today, even though the idea is very _very_ tempting! Still, we should go meet up with them now. They're probably hanging around Gerald Field," Helga added as she broke free from Arnold's embrace only to then take one of his hands in hers. She then started walking towards said vacant lot with Arnold in tow, who did not seem to have much of a say in the matter. However, she knew he wanted to see his old friends again and that was all the answer she really needed.

"Yeah, Gerald told me it was still around," Arnold replied simply while following Helga until he matched her pace. He chuckled at Helga's comment, to which he would be lying if he said that that idea wasn't tempting for him too.

"Yep, and we still play ball on it sometimes. Other times, it doubles as a hang-out-slash-make-out spot," Helga replied with a suggestive wag of her eyebrows. The sudden blush spreading on Arnold's cheeks told Helga that her hidden message was well-received.

"You know they'll start talking," Arnold warned with a smirk and a teasing eyebrow wag of his own.

Helga knew Arnold was teasing her but he had a point, even though he wasn't trying to make one necessarily. It's true that things were moving pretty fast in just a matter of minutes but did Helga want to change anything? Heck no! Yes, she was going to have to get used to acting like a couple with Arnold whenever they were in public, especially since she acted like she hated his guts for the longest time. Then again, she hadn't done that in years since he wasn't even here so hopefully the urge to revert back to her old bully self wouldn't be as strong. And besides, her dream was suddenly staring her in the face. About two years ago, this was the one dream that she believed would never become a reality, which was why she stopped replying to Arnold's letters and tried to have an open mind while dating other guys, all to to try to get her mind off of Arnold. Now that Arnold reciprocated her feelings, Helga realized that she didn't have to hide that part of herself ever again, nor did she want to. It was the end of an era and her mind was firmly made up. A new road laid out before her and she was not turning back now, or ever for that matter.

"So? Do you see me caring? Everything's different now. All that unrequited love nonsense is long over now so why hide it? Besides, if anybody thinks I've gone soft or anything just because you have returned my affections, they're going to have to answer to 'Ol Betsy and the Five Avengers!" Helga exclaimed giddily with a devious gleam in her eyes as she made a fist with her free hand and began to shake it in the air to capture the full effect. True as her word, she did not let go of Arnold's hand as the two continued to walk together.

"Whatever you say, Helga. Whatever you say," Arnold replied with a heartfelt chuckle. He lifted up the back of Helga's hand to his lips and kissed her hand softly. Helga blushed and flashed Arnold the most dazzling of smiles, which literally caused his heart to skip a beat.

'I could get used to this,' Helga thought to herself happily as she and Arnold continued walking. Together.

THE END

 **A/N: Just to clarify in case you were curious about the timeline, I was going with the confirmed timeline from TJM, so most of the class were about 11 when they went to San Lorenzo to help Arnold find his parents. Therefore, if Arnold came back at 17, he was in the jungle for 6 years. And 8 years prior would be when they were fourth graders.**

 **By the way, I'm always listening to music when I'm writing. While I was working on this chapter, I was flip-flopping between a few songs by Cake, like "Pretty Pink Ribbon", which made me think of Helga and how if Arnold wasn't there to compliment her on her bow when they met, her life probably would have been much darker and stuff. You can give that a listen if you want to!**

 **And that, my friends, is the end of "The Wall Knows All"! I may be working on a one-shot before starting the fall semester but in case I can't get that started I might as well make this little announcement now:**

 **In case anyone is interested, in a short while, like less than a week, I won't have any time to write anything new and make updates in a timely manner so I decided to take a break from writing fanfics. That's pretty much why I wanted to finish this story, so I wouldn't leave anything unfinished. I won't be posting anything new until December at the earliest. However, it could be a whole year until I'm able to publish anything because I decided to wait until I have written at least the first few chapters of a new story before posting it, that way I can post more periodically or whatever!**

 **If I'm able to write the one-shot then I will be on hiatus right after that. I'm upset to be doing this but I have to. I'm not quitting though, just taking a break!**

 **Thank you all for your kind words about this fanfic! It makes me so happy that you enjoyed this and my writing! See ya around!**

 **-Livyloozer**


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